Tweens Convene for Learning, Support on Body Image

Oct. 13, 2009 -- When 12-year-old Chloe Harris sees a large-screen image of a stick-thin model in a new ad campaign, the seventh-grader from Alexandria, Va., says the picture makes her "feel sick" because the model looks so "unnormal."Her reaction is on target, says body-image expert Jess Weiner, who speaks about the eating disorders that began for her at age 11.

TWEENS: They're cooler than ever, but is childhood lost?SUMMIT: It's all about empowerment

"Every single person here wonders whether they've got the right body or the right look," says Weiner, who writes a body-image column for Seventeen magazine. She spoke to more than 200 tween girls, ages 9-14, gathered for the first National Tween Girl Summit here over the weekend.

Ultra-thin models and celebrities are getting some backlash these days, but body image is still a major preoccupation for girls. Some marketers have started to respond, such as Dove, a summit sponsor, which created the Campaign for Real Beauty and the Dove Self-Esteem Fund.

Researchers are particularly interested in the link between self-esteem, body image and eating disorders, and new studies are trying to better explain the connection.

What others think

A study was published this summer in the journal Child Development by researchers at the University of Oregon and University of California-Los Angeles who conducted brain scans on 12 young people ages 11 to 13 and on an equal number of young adults ages 22 to 30. During the imaging, the participants responded to 40 questions about their popularity and their academics. They were asked about whether phrases such as "I am popular" described them, and whether others would agree. Compared with the young adults, the study suggests that a tween's self-image is largely based on how she believes others see her.

"If you ask them what they think of themselves, they can't separate that from what other people think of them," says Jennifer Pfeifer, an assistant professor of psychology in Oregon. "Whenever you ask them about themselves, they immediately engage in thinking about what others think of them."

In a study about weight and body satisfaction, researchers measured the height and weight of 4,254 schoolchildren from Nova Scotia and asked them how much they agreed with the statement "I like the way I look."

"We found in children as young as 10 and 11 — all fifth-graders — they're experiencing these very negative feelings about their bodies related to their weight," says researcher S. Bryn Austin, assistant professor in pediatrics at Children's Hospital in Boston. "It was true in both boys and girls, but it was more pronounced in girls. In the boys, being very thin was also related to feeling bad about their body, but the thinner for girls, the better they felt about their bodies."

The study, done with researchers from Harvard University and the University of Alberta in Canada, was published in August in the journal BMC Public Health.

Psychology professor Joan Chrisler of Connecticut College in New London, Conn., says teasing or even well-meaning remarks by a parent can damage a child's self-image.

Parents' words matter

"The things we say about ourselves in front of our daughters, and the way we treat our own bodies, really has an effect on our girls," says Dara Chadwick of Jamestown, R.I., author of You'd Be So Pretty If … : Teaching Our Daughters to Love Their Bodies — Even When We Don't Love Our Own.

Heather Moran of Mantua, N.J., brought her daughter Erin, 13, to the summit, along with one of Erin's friends. Moran says she has lost 35 pounds and ran a half-marathon in Philadelphia last month.

"I was turning 40 and I wanted to feel good," Moran says. "I don't think she saw it as body image. She saw it as me just wanting to be healthy."

Sophia Cucci, 11, of Harrington Park, N.J., came to the summit with her mother, Michele.

What Sophia learned from the presentations: "Not to base your life on people in magazines or TV shows, because that's not really how they look."

Psychotherapist Jill Rutledge of Evanston, Ill., author of the 2007 book Picture Perfect: What You Need to Feel Better About Your Body, urges mothers to "hold their tongues when their daughter is eating something they wouldn't eat. Eating a brownie isn't a horrible thing."