Abstract
What role do peers and the media play on young girls’ body image concerns and what can we do to prevent it?
Dr Haley Dohnt
PhD awarded 2007, Clinical Psychology, Flinders University
Postdoctoral research fellow, School of Psychology, Flinders University
This research aimed to examine body image concerns in young girls. Evidence is accumulating that body image concerns are no longer only associated with adolescence, but girls as young as six years of age now also desire to be thinner. The present research aimed to examine the role of peers and the media in the development of body image concerns in 5 to 8 year old girls. It was found that girls who demonstrated more influence from their peers and the media were more likely to develop body image concerns. In addition, girls with greater body image concerns were also more likely to develop lower self-esteem. Thus, the present research indicated that peer and media influences are important socio-cultural factors in the development of body image concerns in young girls.
These findings further suggest that body image prevention programs should be initiated as early as school entry, when children’s beliefs about weight and shape might be less consolidated. Thus the second part of this research was to examine, Shapesville, a storybook developed to promote positive body image in young children. It was found that reading Shapesville significantly improved girls body image concerns, as well as many other aspects of their self-image. This suggests that prevention programs such as Shapesville can be utilised with young children, with promising results. Overall, these findings have important implications for future researchers to more fully examine the risk factors for children’s body image concerns, as well as continue to develop and use prevention programs with young children.
