Appearance Culture in Nine‐ to 12‐Year‐Old Girls: Media and Peer Influences on Body Dissatisfaction

Abstract

Little research has investigated sociocultural factors in the development of body dissatisfaction in preadolescent girls. This study examined the combined influence of media and peer factors. The participants were 100 girls aged nine to 12 years. The girls completed questionnaire measures of media exposure (television and magazines), peer influences (appearance norms, appearance conversations), internalization and body dissatisfaction. Their height and weight were also measured. About half (49 percent) of the girls displayed a desire to be thinner. The influence of sociocultural factors was confirmed in addition to biological determinants, such as body mass index. Their exposure to appearance-focused media was not directly related to their body dissatisfaction, but was indirectly related via their conversations about appearance among peers. The path analysis showed that peer appearance conversations demonstrated a significant relationship with internalization of thin ideals, which was, in turn, significantly related to body dissatisfaction. Like their adolescent counterparts, preadolescent girls are also exposed to appearance ideals presented in the media and manifested among peers. The results provided evidence for the existence of an 'appearance culture' consisting of interrelated media and peer influences among girls as young as nine to 12 years of age.

Correlates of Body Dissatisfaction in Children

“…As expected 1,3,7,8,11,12,32 , being overweight was significantly associated with the desire to be slightly thinner or much thinner. Underweight preadolescents children had also a greater desire to be slightly larger, but not much larger.…”

“…In contrast, the desire of a larger body shape range from 0% to 36% among girls and from 13 to 48% among boys. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Body dissatisfaction increases with age 3,6,7 and affects girls more than boys. 3,8,9 This gender difference, however, is more pronounced in adolescence and adulthood.…”

“…10 Overweight and obese children are also more dissatisfied than other children, as has been found in several regions of the world. 1,3,7,8,11,12 Some studies indicate that body dissatisfaction is associated with lower self-esteem, although the size of this effect varies across studies. 11,[13][14][15] Considering the many consequences of body dissatisfaction in children, such as depression 16,17 and eating pathologies, 3,18 it is important to understand the factors that are related to its manifestation in children.…”

Peer Culture and Body Image Concern Among Australian Adolescent Girls: A Hierarchical Linear Modelling Analysis

“…In an Australian study, high school girls reported that appearance-focused conversations, appearance-based gossip, dieting, and weight monitoring formed a major part of their everyday interaction with friends at school (Carey et al 2011). Appearance-focused media has also been shown to be widely incorporated into the school-based interactions of adolescent girls; Clark and Tiggemann (2006) found that Australian high school girls regularly looked at fashion and celebrity magazines at school with their friends, and material in these magazines was a frequent topic of conversation. In addition to these mass media products, more recent Australian research shows that social media is another key site of adolescent girls' appearance conversations, with the pictures posted to MySpace and Facebook pages a routine subject of discussion and surveillance (Carey et al 2011;Tiggemann and Miller 2010).…”

A Review of Instruments for Assessing Body Image in Preschoolers

“…These results suggest that body dissatisfaction and self-esteem are not only associated during adolescence [e.g., 32] but body dissatisfaction may also have a negative impact on young children' developing self-esteem [17]. Third, children's body dissatisfaction was associated with perceptions of their peers' body dissatisfaction [15,16], suggesting that peers may be significant sources of influence on body satisfaction not only in early adolescence [e.g., 51,52] and adolescence [e.g., 53], but also in preschoolers [15,16]. Fourth, only three studies have analyzed the relationships between body dissatisfaction and diet in preschool children.…”