A Review of Instruments for Assessing Body Image in Preschoolers

Abstract

Society has produced many idealized and unattainable standards of beauty. These may be internalized by young children, increasing the risk of body dissatisfaction, which is the strongest predictor of eating disorders. Prompted by this concern, the aim of the present research was to identify and analyze the instruments that have been used to measure body perception and body dissatisfaction in preschoolers. To this end, we reviewed 18 articles published between 2005 and 2017 and retrieved from the PsycINFO and MEDLINE databases. Our results indicated that the instruments used to assess body image comprise silhouette scales, interviews and questionnaires. The results suggest that body dissatisfaction is higher when assessed with silhouette scales compared to questionnaires and interviews in preschoolers. When developing instruments to assess preschoolers' body image, it is important to take their cognitive development into account.