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Agreement with satisfaction in adolescent body size between female caregivers and teens from a low-income African-American community
Mitola, A. L., Papas, M. A., Le, K., Fusillo, L., & Black, M. M. (2007). Agreement with satisfaction in adolescent body size between female caregivers and teens from a low-income African-American community. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 32(1), 42-51. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsl004
Objective To describe body size satisfaction and agreement among low-income, urban, African-American adolescents, and female caregivers. Methods Two hundred and fifteen adolescent-caregiver pairs completed measures of demographics, anthropometrics, and body size satisfaction. Results Adolescent-caregiver agreement on body size satisfaction varied by body mass index (BMI) category. Among normal weight adolescents, 61% of adolescent-caregivers agreed that current body size was ideal. Among adolescents at risk for overweight, 38% of adolescent-caregivers agreed that current body size was ideal, and 38% were discordant with adolescents wanting to be thinner and caregivers satisfied with current body size. Among overweight adolescents, adolescent-caregiver agreement was 67%; 52% agreed the adolescent should be thinner and 15% agreed current body size was ideal. Conclusions Body size satisfaction is related to BMI category for adolescents and caregivers, but adolescents have a lower threshold. Encouraging caregivers to elicit their adolescents' views on body size satisfaction may enable caregivers to support their adolescents in addressing weight-related issues.
