ArticleCurrent anthropology2014
"Whatever average is:" understanding African-American mothers' perceptions of infant weight, growth, and health.
Article in Current anthropology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Carer perspectives on overweight, obesity and dental caries in early childhood: findings from a systematic qualitative review.Frontiers in oral health · 2025Pooled it
- Early infant appetitive traits are associated with growth status and adiposity in African-American infants and toddlers.Annals of human biology · 2025Article
- You are What Your Parents Expect: Height and Local Reference Points.Journal of econometrics · 2024Article
- Underestimation of overweight weight status in children and adolescents aged 0-19 years: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Obesity science & practice · 2021Review
- What is normal, healthy growth? Global health, human biology, and parental perspectives.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2021Review
- Parent perceptions of routine growth monitoring: A scoping review.Paediatrics & child health · 2021Article
- Parental Self-Efficacy in New Mothers Predicts Infant Growth Trajectories.Western journal of nursing research · 2020Article
- Parent and Clinician Perspectives on Sustained Behavior Change after a Prenatal Obesity Program: A Qualitative Study.Childhood obesity (Print) · 2017Article
- Perceptions of Child Body Size and Health Care Seeking for Undernourished Children in Southern Malawi.Qualitative health research · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Biomedical researchers have raised concerns that mothers' inability to recognize infant and toddler overweight poses a barrier to stemming increasing rates of overweight and obesity, particularly among low-income or minority mothers. Little anthropological research has examined the sociocultural, economic or structural factors shaping maternal perceptions of infant and toddler size or addressed biomedical depictions of maternal misperception as a "socio-cultural problem." We use qualitative and quantitative data from 237 low-income, African-American mothers to explore how they define 'normal' infant growth and infant overweight. Our quantitative results document that mothers' perceptions of infant size change with infant age, are sensitive to the size of other infants in the community, and are associated with concerns over health and appetite. Qualitative analysis documents that mothers are concerned with their children's weight status and assess size in relation to their infants' cues, local and societal norms of appropriate size, interactions with biomedicine, and concerns about infant health and sufficiency. These findings suggest that mothers use multiple models to interpret and respond to child weight. An anthropological focus on the complex social and structural factors shaping what is considered 'normal' and 'abnormal' infant weight is critical for shaping appropriate and successful interventions.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.