Posted by r.anne on January 1, 2001, at 17:47:24
Monday January 1 2:43 PM ET
Program Helps Young Girls Accept Their Body SizeNEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Bombarded by media images of rail-thin celebrities and preyed upon by advertisers who use these images to set cultural standards of beauty, many girls are already veterans of the war on body fat by the time they reach puberty.
But teaching girls as young as age 10 about the media's influence on body image and self-esteem and helping them find ways to resist these images may lead them to accept their bodies and themselves, researchers suggest.
``Young girls need skills in critically analyzing messages and images portrayed in the media to develop realistic assessments regarding their own ideal body shape and size,'' according to Dr. Dianne Neumark-Sztainer and colleagues from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
The authors cite studies demonstrating that girls who are concerned with their weight in elementary school are more likely to develop an eating disorder.
``Because body image is such a strong correlate of dieting behaviors and eating behaviors, it is essential to find ways to lead to its improvement,'' the researchers write in the December issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
The team tested one program, ``Free to Be Me,'' on 226 fifth- and sixth-grade girls from 24 Girl Scout troops. The program taught girls that they did not have to buy into media images of beauty and that they could fight to change these images.
For example, girls analyzed magazine and television advertisements and wrote letters to corporations advocating for healthier products and images; and parents prepared healthy snacks for the girls.
After 3 months, girls were more likely to accept their body size, understand the physical changes that occur during puberty and resist images of thin bodies portrayed in the media. Girls were also less likely to read magazines focusing on fashion and beauty.
However, the program did not significantly change the number of girls who reported dieting at the outset (29%).
The study authors suggest that a longer and more intensive program might ``lead to more meaningful changes in weight-related attitudes and behaviors.''
SOURCE: Journal of the American Dietetic Association 2000;100:1466-1473.
**************There is a book called Self Esteem Comes In All Sizes by Karen A Johnson. It is a good one for people who struggle with size-related issues.
poster:r.anne
thread:3668
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20001117/msgs/3668.html