OBJECTIVES: Childhood obesity is among the most severe health concerns in China. The results of former studies on parents' preferences for preventing childhood obesity remain insufficiently fixed. This study aims to measure and quantify parents' preferences for strategies to prevent obesity in China.

METHODS: A survey, including a set of discrete choice experiment (DCE) task choices, was utilized to measure parents' preferences and factors that affect parents' perception of approaches to prevent children's being obese or overweight. Participants were recruited from October 20, 2022, to December 30, 2022, using snowball sampling methods through social media platforms. And the inclusion criteria for this study were responding parents with at least one child over five years old. The multinomial logit model and (MNL) latent class model (LCM) were performed for statistical analysis.

RESULTS: A total of 634 qualified respondents who completed the survey were included in the analysis. Generally, extra expense occupied the first place for parents (weighted importance: 32.48%), followed by daily sleeping duration and dietary mode. Parents prefer nine hours of sleeping time (OR: 1.286, 95%CI: 1.181–1.400, p<0.05, reference level: seven hours) with high-protein diet mode (OR: 1.115, 95%CI: 1.035–1.201, p<0.05, reference level: low-fat diet) and school instead of gym as their children's exercise location (OR: 0.704, 95%CI: 0.645–0.768, p<0.001, reference level: school). LCM identified and segmented two groups of parents. Both groups prefer an early-eating diet and high-protein diet mode. However, group 1 preferred school to be an exercise place with eight hours of sleep daily, and prefer to pay no expenses, while group 2 valued nine hours of sleep and willing to pay RMB 200 for the weight control plan.

CONCLUSIONS: A collaborative effort by schools, families, and policymakers is required to guarantee children's sufficient exercise, sleeping time, and suitable dietary style.