Starving Self-Esteem

Weight problems can start at a young age--and so can the self-esteem issues that go hand in hand with being heavy. As early as the age of five, girls are affected by how others perceive them.

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University talked to 197 five-year-old girls and their families to determine how a girl's weight and her parents' concern about it affect her self-esteem. The girls who weighed more were more likely to have a negative self-image, and the lowest levels of self-esteem showed up in overweight girls whose parents restricted their daughter's eating. Not only did the girls believe that they had limited physical ability, they also had lower opinions of their cognitive skills.

"It was astonishing to us," says Leann Birch, Ph.D., a professor at Penn State and one of the authors of the study, published in the journal Pediatrics. "From very early on, appearance is important and it's a part of self-evaluation."

There's much information in the media about childhood obesity, Birch explains. "Parents know that it is unhealthy, but just being concerned and restricting the child's intake appear to have negative effects." Birch and lead researcher Kirsten Davison, a Ph.D. candidate at Penn State, suggest parents find ways for their daughters to be more active and offer foods they should eat, rather than stress the ones they shouldn't.

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