A prospective study on the impact of peer and parental pressure on body dissatisfaction in adolescent girls and boys
Research highlights
► Longitudinal impact of peer and parental pressure on body image in girls and boys. ► Gender-specific assessment of body image. ► Modeling by friends leads to weight concerns in girls and muscle concerns in boys. ► Parental encouragement is a strong predictor of weight concern in boys and girls. ► Appearance-based exclusion predicts weight concern in boys.
Introduction
Body dissatisfaction is highly prevalent among adolescents. Some authors even refer to it as a normative occurrence among adolescent girls (e.g., Rodin, Silberstein, & Striegel-Moore, 1984) and an increased number of studies have revealed that boys are similarly affected (Jones and Crawford, 2005, Ricciardelli et al., 2000). However, because male and female body ideals differ, body dissatisfaction for girls and boys differs as well. Whereas adolescent girls usually wish to be thinner (Smolak, 2004), it is estimated that one-third of adolescent boys desire a thinner, and another third a larger and more muscular body size (McCabe and Ricciardelli, 2001, McCreary and Sasse, 2000). Because body dissatisfaction is one of the main risk factors for health-endangering body change strategies (e.g., eating disorders or the use of steroids) further knowledge is needed about the causes of a negative body image. Although ideals are gender-specific, risk factors leading to pronounced appearance orientation and body dissatisfaction seem to be comparable for girls and boys (McCabe and Ricciardelli, 2003, Presnell et al., 2004).
Social influences have proven to be particularly relevant in this process (McCabe and Ricciardelli, 2003, Stice, 1994), and their impact on the development of body image concerns has been verified in many cross-sectional studies and in a few prospective and experimental investigations. Examining the research on social pressure more closely, one could find evidence (a) for the impact of certain persons as well as (b) for different forms of appearance-related social pressure.
Thus, research reveals that adolescents who grow up in an appearance-focused environment are more concerned with their appearance (Jones and Crawford, 2006, Kluck, 2010). Findings further suggest that peers and parents – who are closest to the adolescent – are mainly relevant in promoting beauty ideals and appearance-related attitudes. In different studies Jones and Crawford (Jones, 2004, Jones and Crawford, 2005, Jones and Crawford, 2006) point to the crucial role of the peer appearance culture. In particular, friends seem to be of high relevance (e.g., Jones, 2004, Paxton et al., 1999). Different investigations have explored the parental impact. Research initially focused on the impact of maternal body image on their daughters (e.g., Benedikt et al., 1998, Pike and Rodin, 1991). However, the implicit assumption that mothers mainly influence their daughters whereas fathers have an impact on the body image of their sons could not be affirmed. In fact, the findings indicate that both parents have an impact on their daughter's and son's body image (e.g., Agras et al., 2007, Field et al., 2001, Ricciardelli and McCabe, 2001, Ricciardelli et al., 2000, Rodgers et al., 2009).
Furthermore, studies have found evidence for the impact of different forms of social pressure. A large body of literature has investigated the effects of teasing or negative verbal commentary from peers and parents and found strong evidence for negative consequences such as impaired self-esteem, body dissatisfaction or disordered eating. Although studies have shown that high-average and overweight adolescents are more often faced with teasing and suffer more from it, comparable consequences could also be found among non-overweight adolescents (e.g., Hayden-Wade et al., 2005, Thompson et al., 2007). Eisenberg, Neumark-Sztainer, Haines, and Wall (2006) also showed that the impact of teasing experiences can last over years. A recent systematic meta-analysis has summarized the findings on teasing of the last 18 years (Menzel, Schaefer, Burke, Mayhew, Brannick, & Thompson, 2010) and has revealed that a moderate positive association between body dissatisfaction and teasing can be considered as well established. Interestingly, the impact is comparable whether weight teasing or general appearance teasing was considered. Moreover, Menzel et al. (2010) found a stronger impact on female compared to male participants but unfortunately they have only focused on body dissatisfaction in general and did not distinguished between weight and muscularity concerns. Hence, minor effects among male samples might be a result of inadequate assessment of body dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, many studies compounded sources of teasing (e.g., peers and parents), but if considered separately, teasing by peers was more prevalent (Helfert and Warschburger, 2011, Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2002).
Particularly parents often deliver appearance-related messages that are intended to be encouraging but in fact can harm the body esteem of an adolescent (e.g., “Are you sure you want to eat more?” or “You’d better watch over what you eat for a while!”). Only a few cross-sectional studies have explored this aspect and found parental encouragement to diet to be associated with body dissatisfaction in girls and boys (Benedikt et al., 1998, Wertheim et al., 2002). In a recent study of retrospective parental influences on the body image and eating patterns of young women (Kluck, 2010) parental encouragement to control weight and size has even been revealed as the strongest predictor of body dissatisfaction. In a previous study, we found evidence that parental encouragement to control weight and shape is the most prevalent aspect of parental pressure perceived by girls and boys (Helfert & Warschburger, 2011). Until now, longitudinal evidence has been lacking.
Another aspect of social pressure is exclusion from social networks and activities because of one's appearance. This phenomenon has mainly been investigated in the field of social marginalization of overweight individuals (e.g., Strauss & Pollack, 2003). Within normal weight adolescent samples, if not exclusion per se, then the fear of being excluded – often called appearance-based acceptance or likeability – has been explored. While in a cross-sectional study Oliver and Thelen (1996) found appearance-based peer acceptance to be the major predictor of body image concerns in girls and boys, prospective research could only verify this impact on girls (Jones, 2004).
The aspects of pressure just described are forms that directly target a certain person because of his or her appearance. Apart from that, there are forms of pressure that do not directly refer to a certain person but take effect more subtly via vicarious learning or role modeling (e.g., fat talk, appearance norms). Appearance norms and attitudes of significant others can form adolescents’ body image. If the social environment sets great value on appearance or promotes a certain beauty ideal, adolescents are more likely to adopt appearance standards (e.g., Jones and Crawford, 2006, Kluck, 2010). The standards and attitudes are either transmitted via appearance conversations or via behavior modeling.
The impact of appearance conversations among girls is well established. In the prospective study of Jones (2004) appearance conversations with friends led to elevated social comparison which in turn predicted body dissatisfaction in girls one year later. Moreover, experimental studies investigating the effects of “fat talk” among females found a significant decrease in body dissatisfaction in subjects after watching other females complaining about their weight (e.g., Shomaker and Furman, 2007, Stice et al., 2003). Concerning boys, less research has been performed. Jones (2004) did not find an impact on boys, which could be due to the use of a measure that mainly seems to assess concerns with too much weight. But cross-sectional research that considered muscularity concerns verified the impact of appearance conversation (so-called “muscle-talk”) on body image for boys also (e.g., Jones and Crawford, 2005, McCabe and Ricciardelli, 2003). However, this finding needs confirmation within a longitudinal study.
Finally, modeling processes affect body image and body change behavior. Cross-sectional research found evidence that mainly same-gender friends as well as mothers and (especially for boys) fathers are likely to serve as role models (McCabe and Ricciardelli, 2003, Paxton et al., 1999, Ricciardelli and McCabe, 2001). Regarding parental modeling, longitudinal studies do not come to consistent findings (Field et al., 2001, Paxton et al., 2006), which might result from varying follow-up periods or the different aspects of social pressure considered in these studies. However, in the study of Paxton et al. (2006) friend dieting was a significant predictor of body dissatisfaction in young adolescent girls in a five-year period. The fact that no effect could be found among boys might be due to the neglect of suitable male modeling behavior, e.g., exercising or muscle building behavior.
Although many studies have investigated links between social pressure and body dissatisfaction and have provided important findings, most of the studies investigated only one aspect of social pressure, either the impact of certain persons (e.g., parents, peers) or certain types of social pressure (e.g., teasing, fat talk) on body dissatisfation. A few studies considered different sources of social pressure, but therefore had to accept limited measurements of pressures, sometimes with single items (e.g., Presnell et al., 2004, Stice and Whitenton, 2002, van den Berg et al., 2002). Studies that explore various types of social pressure coming from peers and parents alike are lacking. Consequently, the entire impact of social influences might be underestimated, and the relevance of single aspects of social pressure cannot be compared. Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore the impact of various types of appearance-related social pressure coming from peers and parents on body dissatisfaction during adolescence.
As a review of published studies reveals, findings on body concerns among boys are few and often controversial. A possible reason is that studies did not always consider that issues and instruments suitable for girls are not necessarily transferable to boys. Body image research reveals that it is necessary to consider weight and muscle concerns among boys, otherwise crucial social impacts might be overlooked or their impact might be underestimated. To consider gender-specific aspects of body image concerns, we investigated the impact of appearance-related social pressure for girls and boys separately and focus on weight concerns among girls and both weight and muscle concerns among boys.
Because longitudinal findings are needed to establish the role of social pressure as a risk factor in the development of body dissatisfaction, we investigated the impact of different aspects of social pressure on body dissatisfaction in boys and girls within a longitudinal design. We expected that changes in perceived social pressure can predict changes in body dissatisfaction over a one-year period.
Based on the aspects of pressure that were found to affect body image in previous studies, we hypothesized the following:
- 1.
Teasing is an experience that affects adolescents regardless of weight and gender. Thus, we hypothesized that teasing by peers and by parents are strong predictors of weight concerns in girls as well as weight and muscle concerns in boys.
- 2.
Little is known about the relevance of encouraging comments made by parents although the impact of such comments has been discussed by various authors. However, the results of Kluck (2010), as well as our own research, suggest that parental encouragement to control weight might be a particularly relevant aspect of parental pressure among girls and boys. Therefore, parental encouragement to control weight and shape was expected to be a strong predictor of body concerns in adolescent girls and boys.
- 3.
The impact of friends on body dissatisfaction is well established among girls. Among boys, no impact has been found when only weight concerns were considered. However, there is cross-sectional evidence for the relevance of friends regarding muscle concerns. Hence, it was expected that friends influence weight concerns in girls and muscle concerns in boys.
- 4.
To our knowledge no study has investigated exclusion among population-based samples and findings on the fear of exclusion (i.e., likability) are controversial. As the feeling of exclusion constitutes a comparable hurtful experience to teasing, exclusion was expected to affect body image in girls and boys over one year.
Section snippets
Participants and procedure
This study is part of a longitudinal investigation for which the procedure was approved by the ethics commission and the local ministry of education. The study was conducted on middle- and upper-class students in grades 7–9 in three German high schools that cooperate with our institution for different research projects. Schools received financial incentives for their participation (Time 1: 5€/Time 2: 7€ per student). Teachers delivered written information to the students and their parents and
Preliminary analyses
All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 17.0. Because missing data rates for all used measures were below 5% common EM-substitution was applied. All analyses were conducted separately for boys and girls. We used dependent sample t tests to explore changes over the one-year time period on all considered variables and calculated effect sizes for dependent samples. Fig. 1 shows changes over time for all variables. Significant increases were revealed among girls for school and class
Discussion
Social pressure is regarded as an important factor in the development of negative body image among adolescent boys and girls. However, because most of the studies have provided only cross-sectional findings for specific aspects of pressure, the entire impact of social pressure and which types are particularly crucial could not previously be determined.
The results of this study enhance the current state of research by examining the contribution of changes in different aspects of social pressure
Acknowledgement
This study is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Registr. nr.: 01EL0607.
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