Body Image in Preadolescence

August de Richelieu / Pexels

Recent research among preadolescents has shown that low body esteem tends to remain stable from approximately age 11 onwards. This suggests that the period before 11 years old is critical for body image development, and research into the risk and protective factors for body image is important. Low body esteem is not only a problem in and of itself, but it can also contribute to other health risks such as low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and disordered eating.

In a new study, researchers from Ghent University in Belgium wanted to shed more light on the potential risk and protective factors for body image among preadolescents. Namely, they investigated the potential risks posed by social media use and the possible protective factor of a secure, trusting relationship with one’s parents.

The Research Design

Fifty girls and boys between 10 and 12 years old took part in the study. Across a period of 14 days, the children completed three daily measurements on a smartphone or tablet. The measurements assessed their momentary experiences of body image, social media use, and disordered eating behaviors. Before the start of the study, the children also completed a measurement of their relationship with their parents. Using these data, the researchers conducted statistical analyses to determine the momentary relationships between the variables that were measured.

The Findings of the Study

The analyses revealed the following key results. First, overall, children who had reported making more appearance-based comparisons on social media also reported higher levels of body dissatisfaction. Appearance-based comparisons refer to comparing one’s own body to the bodies of people on social media (e.g., friends, peers, celebrities) and are particularly harmful when they are made with people we perceive as “better looking” than we are.

Second, over time, it was found that engaging in more appearance-based comparisons on social media was concurrently related to higher levels of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors, including compensatory exercise (i.e., exercising a lot to try to change one’s body shape and weight) and loss of control eating (i.e., the feeling that one has lost control over one’s eating and is eating past the point of fullness).

Third, evidence for the protective role of parents in these relationships was found for the father only. In particular, children who reported a less positive (i.e., lower trusting) relationship with their father experienced a relationship between higher appearance comparisons on social media and higher levels of body dissatisfaction; this finding did not hold for children who reported a more positive (i.e., more trusting) relationship with their father. More broadly, children who had a more positive relationship with their fathers reported lower levels of body dissatisfaction compared to children who had a less positive relationship with their fathers.

Julia Cameron / Pexels

The Take-Home Messages

The research suggests that using social media can be risky for preadolescents’ body image, particularly when they are comparing their appearance to other people online. Appearance comparisons on social media were also related to compensatory exercise and loss of control eating. These findings support the importance of helping young people limit their use of social media, especially social media, which is more likely to elicit appearance comparisons.

Of course, limiting social media is challenging, given that it is embedded in our daily lives, and it can also be used for many positive purposes (e.g., helping young people to stay in touch with their friends). For these reasons, it is also important to help young people to use social media consciously and critically—for example, to “follow” accounts that support and uplift them and that emphasize non-appearance-related aspects of the self and to “unfollow” those that promote unrealistic body ideals and a focus on physical appearance.

The data supporting the protective role of fathers is also important to highlight. The researchers theorized that a positive relationship with one’s father would lead to children developing a more stable and positive sense of self-worth. This, in turn, would make children less likely to be influenced by external factors such as ideal images of beauty on social media.

Body Image Essential Reads

The Probelmatic Pursuit of a “Beach Body”

Body Neutrality Isn't New or Unique From Positive Body Image

It is unclear why the data did not support the protective role of mothers between children’s social media use and their body image, and these findings conflict with some earlier studies that did support mothers’ positive role. The researchers theorized that other aspects of children’s relationship with their mothers could play a more influential role, such as how mothers talk to their children about body image and media or how mothers role model positive body image to their children. More research into these possibilities and into other parental factors that can help or hinder children’s body image development is warranted.