Quality of life of obese children: the parents' point of view

Aim: To compare obese and not overweight children's quality of life (QOL) related to stigmatization phenomena from parents' point of view. Methods : We developed a 56-item questionnaire (the QOL questionnaire 1.0) which was filled by parents of 284 obese, overweight and not overweight children, aged 4 to 18. 28% of the children were obese, 15% overweight and 36% not overweight. Results : Children's obesity was strongly correlated with parents' obesity (p<0.001) and parents' low standard of education (p<0.001), and less correlated with parents' low social position (p=0.028). There was no significant difference between obese and not overweight children concerning leisure activities (p=0.686), TV watching (p=0.095) and being invited by other children (p=0.747). However, parents of obese children esteem them rarely as sporty (p<0.001), and they are considered to have only “few friends their age“ (p<0.001). Obese children are very often target of teasing (53.3% versus 0.9%, p<0.001) and supposed to be aggressive (p<0.001). Their school results are worsening (p<0.001) and they show lower self esteem (p<0.001). At home, there are more often conflicts about food (p=0.002), as their parents are more restrictive (p=0.007) to them. Conclusion : Obese children's QOL is low not only because of the physical impacts of their weight, but mainly because of social and intra-familial stigmatization. Thus emphasizing positive social interactions, focusing on improvement of self esteem, might be more efficient in therapy then restrictive dietary advising.