Thinner females and heavier males: who says? A comparison of female to male ideal body sizes across a wide age span.

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To examine the possibility of a more restrictive thinness standard for females than males across a wide age span. Ratings of ideal male and female body sizes were elicited from 303 children, 427 adolescents, 261 young adults, and 326 middle-age adults. Line drawings of babies, children, young adults, and middle-age and older adults were portrayed, ranging in size from very thin to very obese. Most subjects irrespective of gender selected similar ideal body sizes for males and females in each comparison. Very few consistently selected a thinner female than male ideal size. Young adults were more likely than other groups to prefer thinner females. The selection of similar thinness standards for both genders is encouraging from a health perspective. However, in all groups, a small bias existed favoring thinner females. This bias may contribute to body concerns in the female population.