Abstract
This study evaluated an adapted version of ‘Happy Being Me’, a school-based body image intervention, with girls and boys aged 10–11 years. Forty-three children participated in a three-week intervention, and 45 children formed a control group. Both groups completed measures of body satisfaction, risk factors for negative body image, eating behaviors, self-esteem, and intervention topic knowledge, at baseline, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up. For girls, participation in the intervention resulted in significant improvements in body satisfaction, appearance-related conversations, appearance comparisons, eating behaviors and intervention topic knowledge at post-intervention, although only the change in body satisfaction was maintained. There was also a significant decrease in internalization of cultural appearance ideals from baseline to follow-up. For boys, participation in the intervention resulted in significant improvements in internalization and appearance comparisons at post-intervention; however, neither of these changes were sustained at follow-up. There were no improvements in the control group over time.
Highlights
At baseline there was no difference in body mass index (BMI) (t = 0.41, df = 13, p = .69, η2 = 0.01; Intervention M = 20.17, SD = 6.31; Control M = 19.11, SD = 3.62), or age (t = 1.24, df = 40, p = .90, η2 = 0.02; Intervention M = 10.70, SD = 0.47; Control M = 10.68, SD = 0.48) between the intervention and control conditions
At baseline there was no difference in BMI (t = 0.61, df = 16, p = .55, η2 = 0.02; Intervention M = 16.30, SD = 1.95; Control M = 16.88, SD = 2.03), or age
This study evaluated the impact of an adapted version of ‘Happy Being Me’, a schoolbased body image intervention
Summary
Following institutional ethical approval and active informed consent from all parents and children, 88 children (46 boys, 42 girls; 100% Caucasian) aged 10-11 years from two community primary schools located in Southern England volunteered to participate in the study. The impact of appearance-related teasing was assessed via the eleven-item Perception of Teasing Scale (Thompson, Cattarin, Fowler, & Fisher, 1995) (e.g., “If people made fun of you because you were heavy, how upset would you be?”; Likert response scale, 1 = not upset, 5 = very upset) This scale has been used with girls and boys of a similar age (6-12 years) (Gardner, Stark, Friedman, & Jackson, 2000). Many of the session aims remained the same and several of the materials used in the original application were retained, some of the content required adaptation This was to ensure that the program addressed body image concerns among girls and boys, engaging both sexes in the material covered, and that the material was appropriate for the younger target age of 10-11 years. At three months post-intervention both groups completed a follow-up questionnaire
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