Even preschoolers believe thinner is better, study says.

Even preschoolers believe thinner is better, study says.

Body image. Professor 'shocked' by some kids' reactions

By SHANNON PROUDFOOT, Postmedia News December 2, 2010 4:04 AM 

Girls as young as 3 have already absorbed the idea that thinner is better, reveals a new study that is the first to examine body image in children
this young.

"I think a lot of parents and researchers assumed that kids were not affected by these messages, that this was something that affected adolescents or adults but not young children," says
Jennifer Harriger, an assistant professor of psychology at Pepperdine
University in Malibu, Calif.

"It's important to monitor what kids are being exposed to (and) parents really need to watch the types of comments they make in front of their children because they're so
impressionable at this age."

There's been very little research on the body image attitudes of very young children because they can't yet articulate their views, she says, so she and her fellow researchers
had to be creative in designing their experiments.

They used the thinnest, largest and average body type in a series of standard drawings of different girls' body types, adding colour to make them
appealing but also identical.

In one experiment, the figures were made into game pieces and the researchers asked 55 girls aged 3 to 5 to choose one for a round of Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders.
Sixtynine per cent chose the thinnest figure, 20 per cent the average
one and 11 per cent the largest. When Harriger asked the girls who
picked the thin or average figure to trade her for the biggest
character, almost two-thirds (63 per cent) were reluctant or flat-out
refused.

"I was surprised that kids as young as 3 were so emotionally invested in their game piece that they would say to a complete stranger, 'No, I don't want to switch with you. No, I hate
that one,'" she says. "It was completely shocking to me."

Children at that age tend to take on the identity of characters they inhabit while playing, Harriger says, and their unwillingness to switch game
pieces suggests that they're not just aware of other people's
stereotypes about overweight people but that they've internalized these
views.

"I've had several children who clearly love their mothers and have had extremely overweight mothers who still were much more likely to select the thin piece," she says.

In another study, the researchers showed girls the figures and asked them to pick the one who matched such adjectives as cute, nice, mean and ugly. Of
six positive and six negative words, the girls assigned an average of
1.24 negative words and 2.69 positive words to the thin figure and 3.09
negative and 1.24 positive words to the fat figure.

The researchers also showed the girls the same figures and asked them to pick one they would want as a best friend. Seventy-one per cent of
girls picked the thinnest figure, compared to 22 per cent who picked
the average figure and just seven per cent who selected the large
figure.

"With the obesity epidemic we have right now, it's really important to make sure that the message that's getting out there is not that fat equals bad," Harriger says. "It's absolutely important
to have good nutrition and to be healthy, but we don't want to
perpetuate the stereotypes that already exist in our society through
these anti-obesity campaigns."

The research is published in the current issue of the peer-reviewed journal Sex Roles.

sproudfoot@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/sproudfoot

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