Weight attitudes in 3- to 5-year-old children: Age differences and cross-sectional predictors

Abstract

We examined weight attitudes in 118 3- to 5-year-old girls and boys. Children completed an interview in which they were asked to select a figure to represent a child with positive or negative characteristics from an array of figures varying from very thin to large, and also a figure representing their own perceived size. Mothers’ body dissatisfaction, internalization of the thin ideal and dieting were assessed. Children chose larger figures to represent negative compared to positive characteristics. The figure size selected for negative characteristics was significantly greater in 5- than 3-year-olds but there was no age variation in figure size selected for positive characteristics. Children's own perceived body size positively predicted the figure size selected for positive characteristics. Maternal body image attitudes predicted figure size selection for both positive and negative characteristics. Findings suggest children's social environments are important in the development of negative and positive weight attitudes.

Introduction

In light of the negative consequences and injustice of weight prejudice and stereotypes (Puhl & Latner, 2007) it would be valuable to understand the early development of weight attitudes and their moderators. Negative attitudes about overweight and positive attitudes towards thinness appear to be well established by 5- to 8-years-of-age (Birbeck and Drummond, 2005, Holub, 2008, Musher-Eizenman et al., 2004, Smolak, 2004, Tiggemann and Anesbury, 2000). In 3- to 5-year-olds, Cramer and Steinwert (1998) observed that a chubby figure was more often selected as being mean, whilst thin and average sized figures were more likely to be selected as nice. Selection of negative attributes for larger figures became more marked across this age range, whilst selection of positive attributes for thin and average sized figures was consistent across age groups.

Gender has been proposed to moderate weight prejudice but findings are mixed in this regard. Whilst Holub (2008) found pre-school girls had more anti-fat attitudes than boys, Cramer and Steinwert (1998) did not. Although children's actual body mass index (BMI) has not been found to predict negative weight attitudes in children (e.g., Cramer and Steinwert, 1998, Holub, 2008, Tiggemann and Anesbury, 2000), young children are not particularly accurate in their perception of their own weight (Truby & Paxton, 2002). Consequently, perceived rather than actual body size may be a more accurate representation of children's own self image (Holub, 2008).

In very young children, the family exercises a degree of control over the child's exposure to prejudicial body size attitudes (Davison & Birch, 2004). Studies of older children (10- to 12-year-olds) indicate that mothers’ negative attitudes toward large bodies (Bacardi-Gascon, Leon-Reyes, & Jimenez-Cruz, 2007) and parents’ beliefs about personal control over weight (Hansson & Rasmussen, 2010) predict the extent of child weight prejudice. To date no association has been found between young children's and parents’ negative attitudes toward overweight people (e.g., Davison & Birch, 2004). However, in 3- to 6-year-old children, Holub, Tan, and Patel (2011) observed that mothers’ fear of fat was associated with children's negative stereotypes of overweight peers. We propose that maternal modeling of internalization of the thin ideal, body dissatisfaction and dieting will predict weight attitudes in young children as children would be exposed to greater repudiation of larger body sizes, and idealization of thinner body sizes.

Based on research described above, we hypothesized that in children aged 3- to 5-years-old: (1) larger figures will be selected to represent children with negative characteristics than children with positive characteristics; (2) older compared to younger children will select larger figures to represent children with negative characteristics but figure size selected for positive characteristics will not vary across age group; (3) girls will select a larger figure size for negative characteristics and a thinner figure size for positive characteristics than boys; (4) own perceived body size would positively predict figure size for positive characteristics but no directional hypothesis is made in relation to figure size for negative characteristics; and (5) maternal internalization of the thin ideal, body dissatisfaction and dieting will positively predict figure size selection for negative characteristics and inversely predict figure size selected for positive characteristics.