Gender inequalities in maternal perception of healthy child body shape and their association with child body mass and blood pressure

Objective. To investigate whether maternal perception of child body shape is different for boys and girls and whether this subjective parameter is associated with objective indices of cardiovascular health. Design. Cross-sectional survey (the ARCA Project). Setting. Southern Italy. Subjects. Body mass index, waist circumference and blood pressure were measured according to standardised procedures in 3551 children (Boys =1778; Girls =1773) aged 6-11 years. Maternal perception of child body shape was investigated by inviting mothers to choose, within two sets of seven, 9-year-old child silhouettes (one set for boys and one set for girls), the body shape they perceived as that of a healthy child. Results. Although the majority of mothers indicated the median silhouette as 'healthy', mothers of girls chose a fatter silhouette as 'healthy' more often than the mothers of boys (P =0.001). By regression analysis, mothers' perception of a child's body shape was a significant determinant (P