Body Shape Linked To Kid's Popularity - British Psychological Society

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Also Included In: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 16 Apr 2010 - 4:00 PDT

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Obesity reduces a child's social status at school and is also associated with negative personal characteristics. These are the findings of a study being presented on the 16th April 2010 at the British Psychological Society's Annual Conference in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The study was carried out by Dr Ekaterina Kornilaki and Dr Gregory Chlouverakis at the University of Crete. They investigated 414 girls and boys aged five to 10 years old. Each child's BMI was calculated and they were classed at either overweight/obese, average or underweight.

The children were asked to look at five pictures of figures ranging from underweight to obese and to select the one they considered to correspond most closely to their own body size. Results showed that 36 per cent of the children were classed as overweight /obese. However 75 per cent of these overweight/obese children placed themselves in the average weight category. Almost all children classified as average or thin identified themselves correctly as such.

In order to identify the social status of the children in the class, each child was asked to nominate three classmates whom they would choose to invite to their party and three they would least like to invite. The findings found a clear relationship between BMI and social status. Popular children were more likely to be average or underweight, while neglected and rejected children were more likely to be overweight or obese.

The children were also asked to listen to a series of short stories featuring characters with positive and negative character traits involved in a range of activities illustrating social competence, school competence, athletic aptitude, artistic ability, personal qualities and health. They were then shown pictures of three identical figures which varied only in terms of body size. They were asked to select the figure they thought was most likely to correspond with the positive or negative personal characteristics and actions of the stories' characters.

Children of all ages tended to attribute positive characteristics firstly to average and secondly to thin figures, while negative qualities were mainly assigned to overweight/obese figures.

One paradoxical finding, resulting from the study was that of perceptions of susceptibility to illness. Although five to eight year olds attributed health problems to obese figures, 10 year olds attributed bad health mainly to thin figures.

Dr Kornilaki said: "This study highlights the need for early preventive educational programmes, which address the high levels of anti-fat bias and social stigmatisation of overweight /obese children and challenge the negative stereotypes involved, held by children of either gender or all body types. It is interesting that as children get older this bias and stigma does seem to reduce to some degree. Further research identifying the factors contributing to this is very much needed."

Source
British Psychological Society

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