Factors related to obesity in preschool children.

The purpose of this research was to examine the following variables for their relationship to the prevalence of preschool obesity: familial aggregation of obesity, infant feeding practices, socioeconomic status, and parents' attitudes toward the use of food for non-nutritive purposes. Parents completed a biographical data form. Height, weight, and skinfold measurements were obtained from 94 preschool children and their biological parents. Both parents answered a Child Feeding Opinion Questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements were evaluated using percentile rankings from NHANES. On the assumption that subjects over the 75th percentile for triceps skinfold were overweight and those above the 90th percentile were obese, 23.4% and 7.5% of the children, 9.6% and 5.3% of the mothers, and 29.8% and 10.6% of the fathers were overweight or obese, respectively. Most parent-child anthropometric correlations were statistically significant. No statistically significant relationships were found between infant feeding practices and childhood obesity. Mothers' educational level varied inversely with the children's weight for height. Mothers and fathers opposed the use of food for reward, punishment, soothing, or affection. The parents' child feeding attitudes had no obvious relationship with the children's anthropometric measurements.