Women start worrying about their appearance from childhood

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Anxiety about the state of their figure is inherent in many women. But when do we first start worrying about extra pounds? American scientists decided to investigate this question, which is quite relevant for the beautiful half of humanity, and came to rather unexpected conclusions: caring for our own appearance is inherent in us from early childhood.

The study by scientists from the University of Central Florida in Orlando involved 121 girls aged three to six years. During the experiment, each of them talked with a specially trained university employee, who, among other questions, found out how girls perceive their appearance.

31 percent of the participants in the experiment admitted that they worried about not being fat almost all the time, and another 18 percent said that they sometimes worried about it.

Previous studies have shown that girls who worry about their appearance at an early age are more likely to develop eating disorders such as anorexia in adulthood.

In another experiment, one group of girls was shown a cartoon with a beautiful female protagonist, which was repeatedly emphasized by other characters. Another group watched a cartoon that did not contain beauty statements. After that, the study participants were asked to play in the room with a variety of toys, including a hanger with clothes and a dressing table with combs, cosmetics and other accessories.

It turned out that all the girls spend approximately the same amount of time "beautifying", regardless of which cartoon they watched immediately before. Thus, the short-term impact of viewing on the perception of one's own appearance is unlikely.

But still, the head of the study, Professor Stacy Tantleff-Dunn, believes that the main reasons for preschoolers' concern about their figure are, on the one hand, television beauty standards, and on the other, criticisms of parents, siblings, and peers.

Therefore, the scientist recommends that parents protect girls from such statements and explain that the wasp waists of cartoon princesses are unrealistic, and that it is not necessary to have "golden hair of Cinderella" and "porcelain skin of Snow White" to look good.