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Pediatrics

Association of parental identification of child overweight and mental health problems during childhood

International Journal of Obesity volume 44, pages 1928–1935 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Background

Public health policies attempt to increase parental identification of child overweight and obesity. The objective of the present research was to determine the cross-sectional, prospective and longitudinal associations between parental identification of child overweight and child mental health problems.

Methods

We made use of two cohort studies of Australian (Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, LSAC) and Irish children (Growing up in Ireland Study, GUI) that measured parental identification of child overweight and child mental health problems. Participant included 6502 (LSAC) and 7503 (GUI) children (49% female) and their parents. Child mental health problems were measured using child, parent and teacher-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQ) at ages 9/10 years old to 12/13 years old. In all analyses we controlled for child Z-BMI.

Results

In LSAC children whose parents identified them as being overweight at age 10 experienced worse mental health at age 10 (β = 0.21, SE = 0.04) and age 12 (β = 0.13, SE = 0.04) than children whose parents failed to identify them as overweight. In GUI children whose parents identified them as being overweight at age 9 experienced worse mental health at age 9 (β = 0.20, SE = 0.04) and age 13 (β = 0.22, SE = 0.04). In LSAC parental identification of child overweight at age 10 did not significantly predict changes in mental health problems from age 10 to 12 (β = −0.02, SE = 0.03). In GUI parental identification of child overweight was predictive of increases in mental health problems from age 9 to 13 (β = 0.08, SE = 0.03).

Conclusions

Parental identification of child overweight and obesity is associated with worse child mental health, independent of child body weight. Parents should be aware of the potential stigma and mental health difficulties associated with labelling a child as overweight.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, Health & Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Eric Robinson

  2. Behavioural Science Centre, Stirling Management School, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK

    Michael Daly

  3. UCD Geary Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Michael Daly

  4. Department of Psychology, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland

    Michael Daly

  5. Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Angelina Sutin

Authors
  1. Eric Robinson
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  2. Michael Daly
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Contributions

All authors conceived and designed the study. MD and AS analysed the data. ER drafted the manuscript. All authors revised the manuscript, contributed to the intellectual content and approved the final version. All authors are accountable for the accuracy and integrity of the work.

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Correspondence to Eric Robinson.

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Conflict of interest

MD and AR report no conflict of interests. ER has previously received funding from Unilever and the American Beverage Association, but does not consider this to be a conflict of interest for the present work.

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Robinson, E., Daly, M. & Sutin, A. Association of parental identification of child overweight and mental health problems during childhood. Int J Obes 44, 1928–1935 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-020-0587-6

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