Originally published January 16 2006
FSU studies reveal the impact of parents' body image stereotypes on toddlers
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
FSU's Bright-Burton professor of psychology Thomas Joiner coauthored a pair of studies that found toddlers may be exposed to body image stereotypes very early in life, even at age three.
Parents of toddlers may be serving up stereotypes about body image that could contribute to eating disorders or behavioral problems later in life, according to a pair of new Florida State University studies.
Researchers found that parents of 3-year-olds worried that their sons but not their daughters were underweight - even though the weights and body mass index of the boys and girls in the study were nearly identical.
The studies, co-authored by FSU's Bright-Burton Professor of Psychology Thomas Joiner, graduate student Jill Holm-Denoma and post-doctoral student Ainhoa Otamendi, as well as colleagues from the Oregon Research Institute and Wesleyan University, were published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.
"Parents are buying into the media ideal of thinness for girls and perceiving that their daughters may not be thin enough, even at this young age," Joiner said.
"The only time a parent should be concerned is if a young child is not eating at all or is under eating in a very noticeable way.
No mother or father in this study reported that their child was fat, despite the fact that approximately 20 percent of the girls and 18 percent of boys in this sample would be classified as overweight based on the body mass index data gathered from parents' reports of their child's height and weight.
In a related study, the researchers looked at the most problematic eating behaviors of 36-month-old children- pickiness, food refusal and struggle for control - as well as positive parental behavior during feedings.
While picky eating or refusal to eat specific foods is common behavior that most toddlers will outgrow, a struggle for control about food was linked to future problems.
The researchers theorized that mothers of heavy children might try to exert more control over the feeding situation than mothers of lean children.
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