Children as young as 32 months have negative perceptions towards overweight peers, a new study from Ryserson University suggests, and are significantly more likely to perceive a fat character as “mean” and a thin one as “nice.”
In the current study, children aged 32 to 70 months were asked to listen to four stories, two involving females and two involving males. Following each story, the children were presented with obese and nonobese target pictures and asked to match the two gender-specific pictures of children with the “nice” and “mean” characters from the story. Results showed that children perceived the overweight target figures as ‘mean’ significantly more often than ‘nice.’ No gender effects were observed.
Why? Perhaps it’s the way overweight characters are portrayed on children’s television programming. Or perhaps it’s something kids pick up from their parents, siblings, or other figures at home. Obesity is a growing epidemic in the United States; the number of adolescents who are overweight has tripled since 1980. And children who are overweight tend to withdraw from social situations, be less physically active than their peers, and have lower self-image and often suffer from depression. The study doesn’t give any answers, only that we need more programs – whether it’s on TV or at school – to prevent body stigmatization so that children can grow up in a world where all body shapes and sizes are accepted!
