Girls and Body Image

“You’re learning who you are. You’re worrying
about self-esteem issues, how you look,” 17-year-old
Ginny says.

For some girls, the focus is on weight – the thinner,
the better.

“The media just sort of drills it in, that this is
the ideal body image, and you sort of feel the need to live
up to that expectation,” says Robin, 16.

Friends Robin, Ginny and Halle agreed to an experiment designed
to test their self-perception. Each was given a sheet of paper
lined with silhouettes of various body images. They were asked
to circle the image they felt best matched their own body.

After calculating their weight and height, each girl then
circled an image that actually matched those numbers. The
result turned out to be a thinner image than the one they
originally chose. Why did the teens think they were heavier
than they actually were?

“Everybody’s harder on themselves than they should
be,” says Halle, 17.

Using a more sophisticated test, a study in the American
Journal of Health and Behavior showed similar results.
The girls in the study viewed themselves an average of 11
pounds heavier than they wanted to be. In reality, they were
only 3 pounds over their target weight.

They all wanted to be skinnier, and experts say society is
mostly to blame for that perception.

“[They get the message that], ‘This is who you
should be, and this is what you should look like, this is
the ideal,’ and the ideal isn’t even real,”
says psychologist Dr. Anne Moore, program director for the
Atlanta Center for Eating Disorders.

Robin, Ginny and Halle each say they have a pretty healthy
self-image but recognize the potential danger for teens who
don’t.

“If you have a really distorted body image, a lot of
times you can start hurting yourself in totally unhealthy
ways – crazy diets and anorexia and bulimia, or if you’re
a guy, over-exercising your muscles,” Halle says.

The experts agree. They say parents can help counter a negative
self-image by teaching their children, especially
girls who are sometimes more vulnerable, how to focus
on the things that are really important.

“[By] recognizing that she’s intelligent, recognizing
that she’s got a lot of spunk, recognizing that she’s
funny, that she’s got a great sense of humor. All of
those things are much more important than what somebody looks
like,” Dr. Moore says.

According to a new study
from the University of Delaware, teenage girls perceive themselves
as weighing more than 10 pounds heavier than they actually
do. For their study, researchers asked 172 adolescents (aged
13 to 17) to pick one of 27 silhouettes resembling how they
see themselves and then pick another silhouette matching their
ideal weight. The researchers found that girls on average
viewed themselves as weighing 141 pounds, which was 8 pounds
more than their average weight (133 pounds) and 11 pounds
more than their ideal weight (130 pounds). While boys also
saw themselves as weighing more than they did (185 pounds
vs. 172 pounds), they picked a higher ideal weight (182 pounds)
that was closer to their average weight.

What is body image? The National Eating Disorders Association
(NEDA) defines body image as how one sees oneself when looking
in a mirror or how one pictures oneself in one’s mind.
Body image includes how a person feels not only about his
or her weight but also height and shape.

It is important to understand that body images can be positive
or negative. The NEDA cites the following descriptions for
both a positive and negative body image:

Positive body image:

• Having a clear, true perception of one’s shape (seeing
  the various parts of the body as they really are)
• Celebrating and appreciating one’s natural body
  shape and understanding that a person’s physical appearance
  says very little about his or her character and value as
  a person
• Feeling proud and accepting of one’s unique body
  and refusing to spend an unreasonable amount of time worrying
  about food, weight and calories
• Feeling comfortable and confident in one’s body

Negative body image:

• Having a distorted perception of one’s shape (perceiving
  parts of the body unlike they really are)
• Being convinced that only other people are attractive
  and that one’s body size or shape is a sign of personal
  failure
• Feeling ashamed, self-conscious and anxious about one’s
  body
• Feeling uncomfortable and awkward in one’s body

So how can you determine if your teen has
a negative body image and whether or not he or she is in danger?
The experts at Chicago Parent magazine
suggest looking for these trouble signs in your teen:

• Engaging in excessive exercise or training that isn’t
  required for his or her athletic activities at school and
  that intrudes on other important activities
• Engaging in sports for the sole purpose of improving appearance
• Having a preoccupation with looking like the extremely
  thin women or muscular men in the media
• Using large quantities of dietary supplements, such as
  creatine or protein powders, or steroids, such as ephedrine
  or androstenedione
• Experiencing sharp fluctuations in weight
• Fasting, attempting extreme diets or using laxatives,
  diuretics or other dangerous techniques to lose weight
• Feeling like he or she never looks good enough
• Needing frequent reassurance that he or she “looks
  OK”
• Thinking, worrying about and feeling distressed about
  his or her appearance
• Allowing his or her appearance concerns to limit social
  activities or negatively affect school or job performance
• Avoiding having all or part of his or her body seen by
  others (avoiding locker room situations or wearing clothes
  that alter or disguise his or her body)

If you recognize any of the signs previously listed, it is
important that you talk with your teen about these issues
as soon as possible. Whether your son or daughter has a negative
body image, the University of South Florida suggests the following
tips to help guide your discussion:

• Tell your teen how important it is that he or she identifies
  and accepts his or her strengths and weaknesses. Remind
  him or her that everyone has them and that no one is perfect.
• Remind your teen that goals must be realistic and he or
  she must take pride in his or her achievements.
• Tell your teen not to be someone else but to be proud
  of whom he or she is.
• Have your teen explore his or her own talents and learn
  to love and appreciate the unique person he or she has become.

As a parent, it is important to remember that you play a
crucial role in how your teen feels about his or her body.
You are often his or her role model, and your teen learns
from what you say and do. To be a positive role model and
to help prevent your teen from developing a negative body
image, the NEDA suggests the following strategies:

• Consider your thoughts, attitudes and behaviors toward
  your own body and the way that these beliefs have been shaped
  by the forces of weightism and sexism.
• Educate your teen about the genetic basis for the natural
  diversity of human body shapes and sizes and the nature
  and ugliness of prejudice.
• Make an effort to maintain positive, healthy attitudes
  and behaviors.
• Avoid conveying messages that will lead your teen to believe
  he or she needs to look more like a model and fit into smaller
  clothes.
• Learn about and discuss with your teen the dangers of
  trying to alter one’s body shape through dieting,
  the value of moderate exercise for health and the importance
  of eating a variety of foods in well-balanced meals consumed
  at least three times a day.
• Make a commitment not to avoid activities, such as swimming,
  sunbathing, dancing, etc., simply because they call attention
  to your weight and shape.
• Make a commitment to exercise for the joy of feeling your
  body move and grow stronger, not to purge fat from your
  body or to compensate for calories eaten.
• Help your teen appreciate and resist the ways in which
  television, magazines and other media distort the true diversity
  of human body types and imply that a slender body means
  power, excitement, popularity or perfection.
• Encourage your teen to be active and to enjoy what his
  or her body can do and feel like. Do not limit his or her
  caloric intake unless a physician requests that you do this
  because of a medical problem.
• Do whatever you can to promote the self-esteem and self-respect
  of your teen in intellectual, athletic and social endeavors.
  Give boys and girls the same opportunities and encouragement.
  A well-rounded sense of self and solid self-esteem are perhaps
  the best antidotes to dangerous dieting and a negative body
  image.

Chicago
Parent
National
Eating Disorders Association
University
of Delaware
University of South Florida