Abstract
Body image has been associated with self-care and the assumption of either healthy habits or poor diets and eating disorders. As a vital element in the formation of a positive body image, the role of the family in childhood has been highlighted by a few studies. This study aimed to assess whether children’s body dissatisfaction could be predicted by their parents’ body dissatisfaction, body mass index (BMI), and approach to change. The sample consisted of 581 participants (366 parents and 215 children). The following instruments were used: anthropometric data, the Brief Scale of Body Dissatisfaction for Children, the IMAGE questionnaire (approach to change and drive for muscularity subscales), and the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness subscales). The results indicated that 19% of children, 22.8% of mothers, and 70.2% of fathers were overweight or obese. The multiple regression models developed for boys and girls explained 60 and 57% of the variance in body dissatisfaction, respectively. Several variables attributable to the mother (higher approach to change, higher drive for thinness, and higher BMI) and to the boys themselves (drive for muscularity, approach to change, and having a high BMI percentile) predicted a higher level of body dissatisfaction. For girls, only variables regarding themselves (approach to change, age, and BMI percentile) explained their body dissatisfaction. Relationships with the traits of the father were not detected for both models. The influence of sociocultural factors on the construction of gender and the negative consequences of mothers’ dieting for aesthetic purposes, on the development of children’s body image, are discussed.
Highlights
Body image is developed mainly in childhood and adolescence and is formed by the experiential representation of one’s appearance and body shape (Smolak and Thompson, 2009)
Dissatisfaction is associated with low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and the risk of developing eating disorders and suicide in adolescence (Brausch and Gutierrez, 2009; Nayir et al, 2016)
Different authors have emphasized the importance of body image in childhood and adolescent health (Kahan and Puhl, 2017); this was the motivation for this study
Summary
Body image is developed mainly in childhood and adolescence and is formed by the experiential representation of one’s appearance and body shape (Smolak and Thompson, 2009). This representation may not match the objective and physical reality of the body because various biopsychosocial factors interact in the formation of the body image (Rodríguez and Alvis, 2015). The obsessive internalization of a certain body and weight generates negative consequences for health In this sense, a negative attitude toward the body promotes inappropriate behaviors—such as nutritionally incorrect behaviors, compulsive physical activity, and compensatory behaviors—to modify the body in both men and women (de Oliveira da Silva et al, 2018; Burnettea and Mazzeo, 2020) and is a predictor of long-term weight gain (Lowe et al, 2019). The prevention of body image disturbance has become a relevant issue in public health agendas (Kahan and Puhl, 2017)
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