Perception of current and desired body size in early childhood
Main Article Content
Abstract
Body image is a construct of social relevance given its impact on physical and mental health. The research of this construct at an early age has received little attention despite some authors have demonstrated that there is concern towards the body in preschool age. This mixed design study aimed to measure body size perception, desired body and body dissatisfaction among children of young age. For that purpose, Preschoolers’ Body Scale, composed of four children figures with different weight status, was administered to 176 participants of 4 and 5 years, of which 96 were boys and 80 were girls. Results showed that body size perception was inaccurate in both sexes and ages, tending towards greater overestimation in girls. It was also observed that most participants chose thedesired figure different from the perceived one, especially females. However, this finding does not necessarily reflect the existence of body dissatisfaction, as qualitative data suggest. Participants’ responses appear to reflect a slight body awareness. Future studies that deepen in body image development atearly ages are needed.
Downloads
Publication Facts
Reviewer profiles N/A
Author statements
- Editor & editorial board
- profiles
- Academic society
- Psychology, Society & Education
- Publisher
- UCOPress. Universidad de Córdoba
To learn about these publication facts, click 
PF is maintained by the Public Knowledge Project
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The journal retains the economic copyright of contributions that are accepted for publication. This means that it acquires the exclusive use of the document to be edited, disseminated, preserved, etc. in any support and for the time stipulated by the local legislation that regulates the performance of the publication.
Psychology, Society & Education is published under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
References
Birbeck, D. y Drummond, M. (2005). Interviewing, and listening to the voices of, very young children on body image and perceptions of self. Early Child Development and Care, 176(6), 579-596. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430500131379
Birbeck, D. y Drummond, M. (2006). Understanding boy’s bodies and masculinity in early childhood. International Journal of Men’s Health, 5(3), 238-250. https://doi.org/10.3149/jmh.0503.238
Damiano, S., Gregg, K., Spiel, E., McLean, S., Wertheim, E. y Paxton, S. (2015). Relationships between body size attitudes and body image of 4-year-old boys and girls, and attitudes of their fathers and mothers. Journal of Eating Disorders, 3(16), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-015-0048-0
Dunphy-Lelii, S., Hooley, M., McGivern, L., Guha, A. y Skouteris, H. (2014). Preschoolers’ body-knowledge inaccuracy: perceptual self-deficit and attitudinal bias. Early Child Development and Care, 184(11), 1757-1768. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2014.881357
Gardner, R. M. (2012). Measurement of perceptual body image. En T. F. Cash (Ed.), Encyclopedia of body image and human appearance, volumen 2 (pp. 526-532). https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-384925-0.00083-3
Hayes, S. y Tantleff-Dunn, S. (2010). Am I too fat to be a princess? Examining the effects of popular children’s media on young girls’ body image. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 28(2), 413-426. https://doi.org/10.1348/026151009X424240
Holub, S. C. (2008). Individual differences in the anti-fat attitudes of preschool-children: The importance of perceived body size. Body Image, 5(3), 317-321. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2008.03.003
International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry (2001). International standards for anthropometric assessment. Librería Nacional.
León, M. P., González-Martí, I. y Contreras, O. (2018). Programas de intervención para la mejora de la imagen corporal en niños de Educación Primaria. SPORT TK: Revista Euroamericana de Ciencias del Deporte, 7(1), 145-156. https://doi.org/10.6018/322011
León, M. P., González-Martí, I. y Contreras, O. (2021a). What do children think of their perceived and ideal bodies? Understandings of body image at early ages: A mixed study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 4871. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094871
León, M. P., González-Martí, I. y Contreras, O. (2021b). Development and validation of the Preschoolers’ Body Scale. Revista Internacional de Medicina y Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte.
Meers, M., Koball, A., Wagner, M., Laurene, K. y Musher-Eizenman, D. (2011). Assessing anti-fat bias in preschoolers: A comparison of a computer generated line-drawn figure array and photographic figure array. Body Image, 8(3), 293-296. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2011.04.006
O’Dea, J. A. (2012). Preventing body image problems: School-based approaches. En T. F. Cash (Ed.), Encyclopedia of body image and human appearance, volumen 2 (pp. 686-692). https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-384925-0.00109-7
Organización Mundial de la Salud (2006). The WHO child growth standards. http://www.who.int/childgrowth/en/
Palacios, J. (2014). Desarrollo del yo. En F. López, I. Etxebarría, M. J. Fuentes y M. J. Ortíz (Coords.), Desarrollo afectivo y social (pp. 231-244). Pirámide.
Pallan, M., Hiam, L., Duda, J. y Adab, P. (2011). Body image, body dissatisfaction and weight status in south asian children: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 11(21), 1-8. https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-11-21
Paxton, S. J. y Damiano, S. R. (2017). The development of body image and weight bias in childhood. En J. B. Benson (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior, volumen 52 (pp. 269-298). Elsevier.
Ra, J. S., Yun, H. J. y Cho, Y. H. (2016). Teachers’ influence on weight perceptions in preschool children. Applied Nursing Research, 31, 111-116. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apnr.2016.01.005
Ricciardelli, L. A. y McCabe, M. (2001). Children’s body image concerns and eating disturbance: a review of the literature. Clinical Psychology Review, 21(3), 325-344. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-7358(99)00051-3
Smolak, L. (2012). Body image development-girl children. En T. F. Cash (Ed.), Encyclopedia of body image and human appearance, volumen 1 (pp. 212-218). https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-384925-0.00033-X
Tatangelo, G., McCabe, M., Mellor, D. y Mealey, A. (2016). A systematic review of body dissatisfaction and sociocultural messages related to the body among preschool children. Body Image, 18, 86-95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2013.07.006
Tremblay, L., Lovsin, T., Zecevic, C. y Larivière, M. (2011). Perceptions of self in 3-5 year-old children: A preliminary investigation into the early emergence of body dissatisfaction. Body Image, 8(3), 287-292. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2011.04.004
Vaismoradi, M., Turunen, H. y Bondas, T. (2013). Content analysis and thematic analysis: Implications for conducting a qualitative descriptive study. Nursing and Health Sciences, 15(3), 398-405. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nhs.12048
Vázquez-Arevalo, R., Rodríguez, A., López, X. y Mancilla-Díaz, J. M. (2018). Valoración de la imagen corporal en padres y niños. Revista Mexicana de Trastornos Alimentarios, 9(2), 208-220. http://dx.doi.org/10.22201/fesi.20071523e.2018.2.540
Wertheim, E. H. y Paxton, S. J. (2012). Body image development in adolescent girls. En T. Cash y L. Smolak (Eds.), Body image. A handbook of science, practice and prevention (pp. 76-84). Guilford Publications.
Xu, T. y Nerren, J. S. (2016). Investigation young children’s perceptions of body size and healthy habits. Early Childhood Education Journal 45(4), 499-507. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-016-0786-x