Warschburger and Kröller BMC Public Health 2012, 12:295 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/295 maternal perception of the associated health risks, and weight dissatisfaction (see Table 3). This model shows an acceptable fit to our data (R2, Nagelkerke’s method = .43). Apart from the child’s gender, an earlier maternal per- ception of need for action was more likely if mothers identified overweight at or before the 75th percentile. So, the probability for an earlier perception of need for preventive actions was three times less for mothers with female children, but 13 times higher for mothers who identified overweight at the 75th percentile. A later ma- ternal perception of the need for preventive activities was less likely if mothers were aware of the associated physical health risks in overweight silhouettes – that is that the likelihood for a later perception of need for preventive actions is four times less for mothers who identified with overweight associated physical health Page 5 of 8 risks at the 90th and 97th percentile. All other variables were found to be non-significant. Discussion On one hand, health professionals urge that prevention of childhood overweight should begin early and focus on parents as the primary agents of change. On the other hand we know almost nothing about what weight parents consider to be a “warning sign” that they should engage in preventive weight management efforts with their children. Based on past research on parental risk perception, this study first explored parental perceptions of the right time for engaging in activities to prevent their child from being overweight, and second, analyzed which factors predict par- ents’ sensitivity to the degree of their child’s risk – e.g. whether they see a concrete need for action at a lower Table 3 Predicting the maternal perception for the need of action at the 75th and at the 97th percentile Need for action on silhouettes on the 75th percentile: Child’s sex: female Child’s age Child’s weight Mother’s weight Mother’s education Family income Weight dissatisfaction - satisfaction - preferred heavier silhouette Identification of overweight silhouettes: - 75th percentile - 90th percentile Identification of physical health risk: 90th and 97th percentile Identification of mental health risk: 90th and 97th percentile Need for action on silhouettes on the 97th percentile: Child’s sex: female Child’s age Child’s weight Mother’s weight Mother’s education Family income Weight dissatisfaction - satisfaction - preferred heavier silhouette Identification of overweight silhouettes: - 75th percentile - 90th percentile Identification of physical health risk: 90th and 97th percentile Identification of mental health risk: 90th and 97th percentile B −1.05 0.09 −0.18 −0.02 −0.07 0.00 −0.30 −1.31 2.57 0.63 −0.95 −0.57 B 0.53 −0.19 −0.25 −0.05 −0.21 0.00 −0.81 −1.15 −0.86 −0.48 −1.38 −0.69 SD error .51 .14 .26 .05 .20 .00 .88 1.02 .92 .97 .50 .49 SD error .53 .14 .24 .05 .20 .00 .91 1.07 .75 .68 .57 .56 Wald df Wald df 4.23 0.46 0.49 0.13 0.14 0.03 0.12 1.64 7.79 0.42 3.61 1.36 0.99 1.73 1.11 1.23 1.09 0.05 0.78 1.15 1.34 0.51 6.00 1.51 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 p .04 .50 .48 .72 .71 .87 .73 .20 .01 .52 .06 .24 p .32 .19 .29 .27 .30 .82 .38 .28 .25 .48 .01 .22 OR 0.35 1.10 0.84 0.98 0.93 1.00 0.74 0.27 13.12 1.87 0.39 0.57 OR 1.70 0.83 0.78 0.95 0.82 1.00 0.45 0.32 0.42 0.62 0.25 0.50 CI 0.13 – 0.95 0.84 – 1.44 0.51 – 1.39 0.90 – 1.08 0.63 – 1.38 1.00 – 0.95 0.13 – 4.15 0.04 – 2.00 2.15 – 79.96 0.28 – 12.56 0.15 – 1.03 0.22 – 1.47 CI 0.60 – 4.81 0.63 – 1.10 0.49 – 1.24 0.87 – 1.04 0.56 – 1.20 1.00 – 1.00 0.08 – 2.67 0.04 – 2.59 0.09 – 1.82 0.16 – 2.34 0.08 – 0.76 0.17 – 1.51