This study assessed the relationship between girls' weight status and self-concept and examined peer teasing and parent criticism as potential mediators of this relationship. Data were collected for 182 girls and their parents when the girls were 5 and 7 years old. At each age, girls' body mass index, self-concept, peer weight-related teasing (child report), and parents' criticism of girls' weight status (spouse report) were assessed. At ages 5 and 7, girls who were more overweight reported lower selfconcept. Peer teasing and parent criticism mediated the relationship between weight status and selfconcept at age 7, but not at age 5. In addition, the duration and timing of parent criticism across ages 5 and 7 mediated the association between girls' weight status at age 5 and perceived peer acceptance at age 7.In the past two decades, a twofold increase has been reported in rates of overweight and obesity among U.S. children (Troiano & Flegal, 1998). Today, 25% of U.S. children aged 6 to 17 years are obese or at risk of obesity (i.e., overweight). Overweight children and adolescents report negative self-evaluations in comparison to their nonoverweight peers (e.g., Banis et al., 1988;Braet, Mervielde, & Vandereycken, 1997;Kaplan & Wadden, 1986;Mendelson & White, 1985), potentially reflecting negative stereotypes held by both adults and children toward obesity (Brylinsky & Moore, 1994;Lerner & Korn, 1972;Maddox, Back, & Liederman, 1968;Richardson, Goodman, Hastorf, & Dornbusch, 1961; Wardle, Volz, & Golding, 1995). Although numerous studies have assessed the simple relationship between weight status and self-concept among children, research has seldom assessed processes linking weight status and self-concept; likewise, no research has assessed how such processes change with age. In this study we assessed (a) the relationship between weight status and self-concept in a longitudinal sample of girls when they were 5 and 7 years old and (b) whether parental criticism and peer teasing mediate the relationship between weight status and self-concept.
Children's Weight Status and Self-ConceptSelf-concept is multidimensional in nature, incorporating components such as the global self (or self-esteem), the physical-appearance self (or body esteem/satisfaction), the athletic self, the social self, and the academic self (Marsh, 1990). Among school-aged children and adolescents, concurrent associations have been found between childhood overweight and low global self-concept (Banis et al., 1988;Braet et al., 1997;Kaplan & Wadden, 1986;Kimm, Sweeney, Janosky, & MacMillan, 1991;Pierce & Wardle, 1993;Sallade, 1973;C. C. Strauss, Smith, Frame, & Forehand, 1985), low athletic self-concept (Braet et al., 1997;Phillips & Hill, 1998), and low physical-appearance self-concept, or low body esteem (Hill, Draper, & Stack, Mendelson & White, 1982Mendelson, White, & Mendelson, 1996;Phillips & Hill, 1998;Pierce & Wardle, 1993). In addition, obesity preceding adolescence has been associated with lower global self-concept during adol...