How the media influence a child's body image

Over the last two decades, the amount of time children spend in front of screens has increased dramatically. Experts fear, among other things, that this extended screen time could lead to a lack of exercise or affect the quality of sleep. It is also becoming increasingly clear that the images shown have an influence on how children perceive their own bodies and other people.

It has now been proven that social media can fuel body image anxiety in young people and adults. However, the potentially negative consequences of media consumption on the body image of younger children have hardly been recognised to date. Apparently, however, the images that children consume on screen, among other things, can change their world view.

This can be problematic when children are confronted with society's ideas of an ideal body. Even three-year-olds can have internalised such body ideals. In one study, three to five-year-old children were shown pictures of children with thinner and fuller bodies. The children were allowed to choose who they would prefer to play with.

They had already understood that a larger than average or fuller body was less desirable, which is why they tended to opt for the thinner children as potential playmates. Their idea of which body types are more desirable was probably shaped by various factors in their environment, such as parents and other social relationships.

High media consumption influences the ideal of beauty

A small, delicate body is seen as positive by society, says Rachel Rodgers, a psychologist at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Sometimes even five-year-old children think about their eating behaviour.

One study found that media images and negative comments about appearance are the «strongest drivers of dieting behaviour». When it comes to body image, boys and girls have different fears: boys tend to worry about muscles and girls about their weight, as our society clearly signals that men should be muscular and women should be thin.

In an Australian study published in 2017, Rodgers and her colleagues investigated the various effects of media on the body image of three-year-old children. They found that children who had consumed more media at the age of three rated thinness more positively at the ages of four and five. Rodgers believes that time spent in front of a screen encourages children to internalise an ideal of thinness.

The results confirm a similar study from 2007, according to which seven to nine-year-old children who watched television more often were more likely to have internalised an ideal of thinness and exhibited what is known as «restrained eating». Experts understand this to mean consciously controlling food intake and overriding hunger signals and appetite.

We cannot control the influence of advertising and the media, but we can talk to our child about it.

Rodgers believes the reason for this is that television shows us unrealistic images and creates positive expectations of certain body types. «People with a certain look are always successful, popular and achieve everything they aspire to in life,» says Rodgers. At the same time, these ideals are marketed together with certain products. This signals that a successful lifestyle can be achieved if you spend the time and money to look exactly like that.

This can have negative consequences for children, from psychological disorders related to body image to eating disorders. Dissatisfaction with one's own body is also linked to suicidal thoughts. This is why it is so important to monitor the influence of media consumption at a young age.

So how can we encourage children to develop a positive image of their own bodies? Limiting screen time can help. Parents should also be aware of how their children are exposed to unrealistic advertising images. How we talk to children about body image in general and also about our own bodies also plays a role.

What is our relationship to our own body?

For example, a mother's dissatisfaction with her body can have an influence on how her daughter views her own body. Accordingly, children are more likely to suffer from body dissatisfaction and eating disorders if their parents regularly talk about their appearance and weight. For Rodgers, it is also important that the focus of the conversation shifts from the appearance of the body, such as size, to its capabilities. Instead of commenting on a child's appearance, you could say how great it is that their legs are so strong and that's why they can run so fast.

We cannot completely control the influence of advertising and the passive intake of media images in everyday life. But we can control what children look at and talk to them about it. This is important to help every child maintain a healthy body image.

This text first appeared in English on the BOLD platform.