Objective: To investigate the association of parental weight related knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) with abdominal obesity among primary and middle school students and to provide evidence for related intervention measures. Methods: In September 2013, the multistage random sampling method was used to select 17 307 primary and secondary school students with normal waist circumference in seven provinces/municipalities in China. After nine month follow up, 14 118 students aged 6-18 years were included in the final analysis. Questionnaires were used to assess parental weight related KAP, and students’ waist circumference was measured objectively at baseline and follow up. Multiple linear regression and multivariate Logistic regression were conducted to analyze the relationship between parents’ KAP with the change of students waist circumference and abdominal obesity, respectively. Results: The nine month cumulative incidence of pre and abdominal obesity among students was 6.67% and 0.85%, respectively. The scoring rates of parents knowledge, attitude and practice were 80.17%, 78.17%, 50.50%, respectively. The score of parents weight related attitude was inversely associated with the changes of waist circumference ( β=-0.18, 95%CI = -0.26- -0.10) and cumulative incidence of pre and abdominal obesity ( OR=0.90, 95%CI =0.82-0.98)( P <0.05). Conclusion Parental positive and correct weight related attitude is inversely associated with the incidence of abdominal obesity among children and adolescents. Interventions targeting establishing parents correct beliefs may be an effective way to prevent abdominal obesity in children and adolescents.