by Paula Davenport, Media & Communication Resources
 

By the time they’d reached fourth grade, 42 percent of preteen girls wished they could be at least one size smaller, according to a recent study of how teasing affects a girl's body image.

Jazzika Matthews, a senior in clothing and textiles at SIUC, conducted the study, the first of its kind.

It asked 82 girls in grades four through six if they'd been the target of fat jokes. It also asked them to report on self-esteem and self-imposed eating restrictions. Most of the 9- to 12-year-olds attended two elementary schools in southern Illinois.

"I think the most alarming thing is that it's not just the larger girls who are being affected by teasing," Matthews says. "One indication of teasing's harmful effects…is reflected in the desire of these 9- to 12-year-old girls to be nearly a size smaller than their current body shape—and their participation in restrained eating behaviors in order to achieve that goal."

Measures of body fat showed that only 23 percent of the girls were overweight, with another 16 percent considered at risk of becoming so. Yet 73 percent said they intentionally ate less than they would like.

Girls were not asked about anorexic and bulimic tendencies. When asked about their eating habits, however, they admitted to such practices as eating less the day after they'd eaten too much, avoiding between-meal snacks to prevent weight gain, and thinking about their weight when deciding what to eat.

To underwrite the project, Matthews landed a $1,500 SIUC Chancellor’s Undergraduate Research Award in 1999. Her written summary of the study took first place in the undergraduate division of the International Textile and Apparel Association’s 2000 collegiate competition, and she presented her findings in poster form at the association’s annual meeting this past November.

Matthews’ study shows that girls as young as 9 are concerned with body image, even when their weight is normal—and that teasing can do significant harm. Among her findings:

• Larger girls experienced about twice as much teasing as smaller girls and reported lower body esteem scores.

• The more teasing a girl experienced, the greater the gap between the way she thought her figure looked and the way she wanted it to look.

• The more teasing a girl experienced, the less satisfied she was with her body and the more she restricted her eating.

• More than a third (35 percent) of the girls were dissatisfied with their weight.

• The worse she felt about her body, the thinner a girl wanted to be.

What can parents and teachers do to steer girls in healthy directions?

"I think first you have to start with building a certain amount of self-esteem in a girl at home," says Matthews. Parents and teachers should refrain from making fun of the way kids look, she adds.

Pointing to studies done by other researchers, she suggests that discussion groups, role playing, and assertiveness training could give girls effective ways to confront teasers and cope with teasing by their peers, giving them a feeling of control.

Matthews also suggests that schools establish no-tolerance teasing policies.

"Teachers should jump on teasing as quickly as possible. Teachers should make the environments they teach in safe ones so children won't be scared or afraid to come to them and talk about what's going on in the classroom, same as home."

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