What do we want to know?
The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) in England, which has been in place since 2006, involves the collection of data on the height and weight of children in reception (age 4-5) and Year 6 (10-11). Several other countries have implemented similar programmes. There has been concern about potential adverse impacts of weight monitoring on children, such as bullying or disordered eating.
Who wants to know?
This independent research report was commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research Policy Research Programme for the Department of Health and Social Care. The project aimed to inform the development of the National Child Measurement Programme.
What did we find?
The review included 17 studies: five intervention studies, seven surveys and eight qualitative studies (some reported more than one kind of data). There are limited data on psychosocial impacts of weight monitoring programmes, but the evidence suggests they do not have significant adverse effects. However, some children do report consequences such as excessive concern with weight. Most children are satisfied with the process; girls and children who are overweight or living with obesity are more likely to be unhappy. Teasing or bullying appear to be rare, but they are often a focus of worry; children have a strong preference for privacy when being measured.
Weight monitoring has been widely implemented internationally. However, the contexts of weighing vary. Some programmes focus specifically on BMI and/or physical fitness and on reporting results to parents, while in other contexts weight monitoring is carried out as part of routine health checks which aim to assess children’s health more broadly, and results are not always reported to parents.
What are the conclusions?
While there is potential for harm in some cases, most children do not experience negative psychosocial impacts of weight monitoring. However, some subgroups of children may have more negative perceptions. There is limited data from robust outcome studies, and the results are not conclusive.
How did we get these results?
We searched nine database sources for studies reporting any type of data on psychosocial impacts of weighing in children aged 4-12. Studies were critically appraised for rigour in sampling, data collection and other methodological domains.
We also looked for information about international policies and practice around weight monitoring. For this we used a document analysis methodology with pragmatic searching.