Parents Shape Body Image, Self-Esteem of Children
By Suzanne Rostler
These days, it is not unusual for girls as young as age 10 to try to emulate the look of glamorous fashion models and wispy television stars--a trend that may be linked to eating disorders among young children.
But according to two studies in the January issue of Pediatrics, the media is not the only influence on the eating habits of today's youth. Parents may play a more significant role than both the media and peers in the way young children view themselves and their bodies, researchers report.
Independent of a child's age and weight, a parent's influences predicted whether or not a youngster became ``highly concerned with weight'' or ``a constant dieter,'' according to Dr. Alison E. Field, from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School (news - web sites) in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues.
Their study of more than 6,700 adolescents aged 9 to 14 found that both boys and girls who said that their fathers were concerned with their weight were more than twice as likely to become constant dieters compared with their peers, one year later. Boys and girls who reported that their mother was constantly dieting were also more likely to become concerned with their own weight and diet frequently, the report indicates.
``The weight-related issues of parents are transmitted to their children, therefore it is important that parents remind themselves that they serve as role models and therefore should attempt to adopt the diet and activity patterns they would like their children to emulate,'' Field said in an interview with Reuters Health. ``Parents should try to refrain from making negative comments about their weight and the weights of others.''
Field added that the study also shows that weight concerns also effect boys, although they are still more common in girls.
In other findings, children who said they were making an effort to look like celebrities were also more likely than their peers to express deep concern about their weight. The influence of peers, however, was not significant.
``Efforts must be made to help children understand that many models and actors have body weights and shapes that are unhealthy or unrealistic to achieve without using unhealthy methods,'' Field suggested.
A second study found that a parent's concern with a child's weight can hurt the self-esteem of girls as young as age 5. Girls whose parents were the most concerned about their child's weight perceived themselves to be the least capable of physical activity.
And girls whose mothers went so far as to restrict their food intake expressed less confidence in their intellectual ability and had lower self-esteem.
The researchers, led by Kirsten Krahnstoever Davison from Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania, call the findings ``a cause for concern.'' The authors explain that overweight girls who are dissatisfied with their bodies may be more likely to diet at a young age. Restricting calories too much can stunt growth in children, while a lack of confidence in cognitive and physical abilities can stymie academic achievement and prevent participation in sports.
``With 25% of US children overweight today, and with concern about childhood overweight on the rise, findings from the present study suggest that how we deal with children's overweight may have implications for the psychological health of a considerable proportion of US children,'' Davison and colleagues warn.
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