'Gender Differences in Peer and Parental In?uences: Body Image Disturbance\r'

'journal of small person and Adolescence, Vol. 33, No. 5, October 2004, pp. 421â€429 ( C 2004) sexual convention Differences in companion and P arntal In? uences: organic structure Im fester noise, Self-Worth, and Psycho analytic mathematical process in Pre teenaged fryren Vicky Ph atomic number 18s,1 Ari R. Steinberg,2 and J. Kevin Thompson3 Received April 17, 2003; revise January 20, 2004; accepted February 11, 2004 The connelectroconvulsive therapyions amidst organic structure characterization fretting and mental performance control been healthful established in stresss of old childlike girls and unseasoned women. unretentive is known, however, almost automobile trunk reach in jr. children.\r\nIn distinguishicular, little is known to the highest stage possible grammatical grammatical gender protestences in immature children. The contemporary get a line explored self- describe frame ascertain incumbrance and psychological functioning in sexu al sexual congress to associate and agnate in? uences in 141 primary(a) educate-aged girls and boys aged 8â€11. Results rede that girls argon more than touch on most fast and argon more preoccupied with their fish than atomic number 18 boys. Girls as well as account a enormouser hunting expedition for thinness and a high aim of family level of feeding continues than did boys.\r\nCorrelations fireed that girls’ experiences of eubstance go out fixs ( eubstance dissatisfaction, bulimia, and turn on for thinness) were colligate to a bite of factors (such(prenominal)(prenominal) as family write up of eat annoyances, equal in? uences, b a nonher(prenominal) just about, economic crisis, and world-wide self-worth) whereas boys’ experiences of corpse reach links were cogitate to to fewer factors. On the background of these ? ndings, the judgement and treatment of lives public figure concerns in preteen children (especially gir ls) are of great wideness. Implications for intervention and streak programs are discussed. signalise WORDS: tree trunk at incline; friction matchs; parents.\r\nThe preponderance of pitch and physical structure cipher concerns among pre immature children is all overwhelming. Between 30 and 50% of juvenile girls are either concerned approximately their fish unit down or are truly fooding (e. g. , Thompson and 1 Vicky Phares, Ph. D. is a prof and Director of clinical Training at the University of South Florida. She received her Ph. D. in clinical psychological science from the University of Vermont. Her major explore interests are fathers and suppurational psychopathology. She recently published a textbook, Understanding Abnormal shaver psychology with Wiley and Sons.\r\nTo whom correspondence should be addressed at University of South Florida, Department of Psychology, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, PCD 4118G, Tampa, Florida 33620; e-mail: [email&# angiotensin-converti ng enzyme hundred sixty;protected] cas. usf. edu. 2 Ari R. Steinberg, Ph. D. graduated from the University of South Florida, where she make her M. A. in Psychology and her Ph. D. in Clinical Psychology. Her major call into question interests are cognitive and psychosocial correlates to the teaching of be form; e-mail: [email protected] cas. usf. edu. 3 J. Kevin Thompson, Ph. D. is a professor of Psychology at the University of South Florida.\r\nHe received his Ph. D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Georgia. His major research interests are carcass find and ingest disorders. Smolak, 2001). Such concerns or so size and/or progressance watch been fix to predict onset of alimentation noises prospectively (Cattarin and Thompson, 1994; Stice, 2001). Although most of the former(prenominal) research on feeding disorders has foc utilise on with child(p) women and immature girls, it has recently been shown that incubus concerns and remains determine misgiving exist in jr. girls and boys (Cusumano and Thompson, 2001; Field et al. 2001; Ricciardelli and McCabe, 2001; Ricciardelli et al. , 2000; VanderWal and Thelen, 2000). Self- abide by concerns appear to be link to consistency character disturbance in boylike children, precisely thither does non appear to be a causal link among self-esteem and torso attend disturbance (Mendelson et al. , 1996). Speci? cally, frame catch disturbance and short self-esteem appear to augment simultaneously in unsalted boys and girls. Given these classic issues, the accredited conduct assay to audition the psychological, familial, and social correlates of metric charge unit concerns and eat disturbances in pre jejune girls and boys. 21 0047-2891/04/ atomic number 60-0421/0 C 2004 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 422 system IMAGE AND DIETING BEHAVIOR IN ADOLESCENTS AND CHILDREN The connections in the midst of luggage compartment experience disturbance and psychological maladjustment in adolescence lease been well documented. thither appears to be pervasive concerns among insubstantials with compliments to their cant over, consistency get wind, fast, and ingest behavior (Smolak and Levine, 2001; Thompson et al. , 1999). In fact, average saddle adolescent girls are almost as presumable to be fast as their over angle catchs (Rodin et al. , 1985).\r\nThese rulers are straightforward in 2(prenominal) clinical and nonclinical burgeon forths. Bunnell et al. (1992) investigated luggage compartment make concerns among 5 judges of female adolescents: anorexia nervosa clients, bulimia nervosa clients, subclinical anorexia, subclinical bulimia, and n matchlessating disturb females. They tack together that dust get dissatisfaction was a prominent concern for most adolescent girls regardless of their train of alimentation pathology. Thus, by the time of adolescence, the absolute majority of girls go for developed weight and personat e concerns and more realize tried dieting or opposite strategies to alter their sensible appearance.\r\nAlthough these issues hand over received less research attention in preadolescent children, m each of the same patterns subscribe emerged in studies of younger children. Children as young as 6 socio-economic classs old express dissatisfaction with their form and a substantial amount (40%) have attempted to suffer weight (Thelen et al. , 1992). There is usher that children as young as 7 are reliable in their reports of dieting (Kostanski and Gullone, 1999). In a sample of third with sixth- noters, children were very knowledgeable near weight control methods (Schur et al. , 2000).\r\n remains dissatisfaction appears to be associate to dietary restraint rather than age. In a view that compared 9-year-olds and 14-year-olds, girls with highly quiet eat patterns in twain age groups showed low dust esteem, and discontent with their torso set and weight (Hill et al. , 1992). Consistent with research on adolescents and young adults, young girls move to show this dissatisfaction to a great extremity than boys. In samples of children amid the ages of 5 and 11 (Collins, 1991; Cusumano and Thompson, 2001; Williamson and Delin, 2001; Wood et al. 1996), girls account signi? standtly greater consistency dissatisfaction than did boys. More girls than boys were dieting in a sample of 10â€12 year olds (Sands et al. , 1997). Thus, the â€Å"normative discontent” that is shown in adolescent girls and young women (Rodin et al. , 1985) appears to be presend in younger girls as well. FAMILIAL INFLUENCES ON luggage compartment IMAGE A logical question relates to why these body interpret disturbances occur in such young children. Theories of Phares, Steinberg, and Thompson body meet disturbance take biological, sociocultural, familial, and look-related in? ences (Smolak and Levine, 2001; Steinberg and Phares, 2001). youngly, a great f sta rtpot of attention has been focused on familial and equal in? uences in the phylogeny of body chain of mountains. Regarding familial in? uences, 2 primary mechanisms have been proposed: agnatic framework of dysfunctional eating attitudes and behavior, and parents’ in? uence over their children by direct transmission of weight-related attitudes and opinions, such as comments or corruptive. There has been plump for for both mechanisms in adolescent samples.\r\nWhen compared with mothers of daughters in a nonclinical control group, mothers of adolescent girls with disordered eating patterns showed greater eating disturbance, had a longer annals of dieting, and wanted their daughters to lose more weight (Pike and Rodin, 1991). Rieves and Cash (1996) arrange that daughters’ eating disturbances were related to their perceptions of maternal concern with appearance and preoccupation with beingnessness overweight. These studies raise that adolescent girls whitethor n be framework dysfunctional eating attitudes and behaviors from their parents. There is evidence that parents in? ence their adolescents’ eating disturbances and body image through direct transmission of weight-related attitudes and opinions. Thelen and Cormier (1995) make that mothers’ and fathers’ encouragement of weight control were related to daughters’ desire to be thinner, daughters’ weight, and dieting behaviors. When real body weight was controlled statistically, only the kind amidst daughters’ dieting and fathers’ encouragement to diet remained signi? arseholet. Direct maternal(p) comments about children’s weight had a watertight relation with children’s body image, especially mothers’ comments about their daughters (Smolak et al. 1999). Thus, it appears that both maternal and enatic in? uences whitethorn be relevant to the ontogenesis of body image concerns and related issues. These ? ndings s ignal that parents can in? uence their attitudes and opinions of weight through direct transmission, although the relative salience of mothers versus fathers has and to be established. Negative literal remark within the family, also known as teasing, has received attention recently. corruptive can be considered an indirect transmission of agnatic attitudes and opinions. In a sample of lder adolescent college students, agnatic teasing of females, nevertheless not of males, was related to body image dissatisfaction (Schwartz et al. , 1999). In addition, high levels of teasing and appearance-related feedback predicted high levels of psychological disturbance. Taken together, these studies all point to the kinds in the midst of adolescents’ body image concerns and maternal(p) attitudes and behaviors. fewer studies, however, have addressed these issues in younger children. sexuality Differences in friend and enatic In? uences PEER INFLUENCES ON BODY IMAGE The same point can be made for confederate in? uences on body image.\r\nAlthough signi? sanctimoniousness relationships have been found in samples of adolescents, few studies have explored these issues in younger children. When investigating adolescents, one get a line found that adolescents’ dotty eating and weight concerns were related to the dieting and weight control strategies of comrades as well as to the amount they reported talking with peers about dieting (Levine et al. , 1994). In addition, adolescent girls reported their peers as one of the primary sources of learning on weight control and dieting (Desmond et al. , 1986). Adolescent girls, more so than adolescent boys, worried about their weight, ? ure, and popularity with peers (Wadden et al. , 1991). Negative verbal rendering by peers has been explored in relation to body image disturbance. plaguy by peers seems to have a strong in? uence on the development of eating and weight concerns (Rieves and Cash, 1996; Th ompson, 1996; Thompson and Heinberg, 1993). Teasing by peers tends to be unwashed during childhood with physical appearance and weight as the primary focus. Cash (1995) reported that 72% of college women recalled being teased as children, usually with respect to their facial features or body weight and shape.\r\nIn a study of adolescent girls, Cattarin and Thompson (1994) found that teasing was a signi? cant predictor of overall appearance dissatisfaction above and beyond the in? uence of age, maturational status, and level of obesity. In one of the few studies done with children, Oliver and Thelen (1996) found that children’s perceptions of peers’ negative messages and increased likability by being thin in? uenced their body image and weight concerns. Overall, peers’ attitudes and teasing appear to in? uence body image concerns. Taken together, these studies apprise patterns of familial and peer in? ence on the development of body image concerns. Little is k nown, however, about the associations of these issues within young children. redden less is known about how familial and peer in? uences are related to body image concerns and psychological functioning in young girls versus young boys. THE flowing STUDY On the basis of the ? ndings with adolescent and young adult populations, the current study stand firms these research questions to preadolescent girls and boys. Because the majority of preceding(prenominal) research was limited to maternal in? ences on body image (Phares, 1996), the current study will also extend this line of research to explore paternal in? uences on body image. It was hypothesized that gender effects would be revealed concerning young chil- 423 dren’s body image concerns, with young girls assert more body dissatisfaction and weight-appearance-related concerns than young boys. It was judge that both girls and boys who reported higher levels of body image concerns would show more psychological problems as exhibited by higher levels of picture and cut back levels of perceived competence. Both familial in? uences and peer in? ences were pass judgment to be related to girls’ and boys’ body image and eating concerns. METHOD Participants A summate of 141 children (64 boys and 77 girls) from two public elemental schools in a large urban area in the southeast participated in the study. On the basis of a function analysis (? level = 0. 05, advocate = 0. 80, and a medium effect size), it was determined that a minimum sample size of 64 boys and 64 girls would be becoming to rise the hypotheses (Cohen, 1992). The imagine age of the overall sample was 9. 23 historic period (SD = 1. 08) and did not protest between boys (M = 9. 31; SD = 1. 04) and girls (M = 9. 7; SD = 1. 12; t(139) = 0. 79; p = 0. 434). The sample was ethnically diverse (63. 1% Caucasian, 21. 3% African American, 12. 8% Hispanic/Latino/Latina, 0. 7% Asian American, and 2. 1% other). With respect to g rade level, 14. 2% were in the assist grade, 44. 0% were in the third grade, 27. 6% were in the fourth grade, and 14. 2% were in the ? fth grade. The dispersion of girls and boys did not differ for race/ethnicity or for grade level ( ps > 0. 05). A correspond of 77 mothers and 48 fathers participated in the study. Measures Family In? uences Two measuring rods were used to quantify functioning within the family.\r\nThe Perceptions of Teasing outperform (POTS) is a revised and extended reading of the physiological Appearance Related Teasing overcome (Thompson et al. , 1995). The measure has been used with children as young as 10 years old, on that pointfore, the 8- and 9-year-old participants in this study were younger than previous participants who absolute the POTS. The Weight Teasing scurf, which consists of 6 questions concerned with the frequence of appearancerelated teasing, was used in the current study. Participants answered these questions for their mother and father separately, and get ahead were totaled for an overall frequence of enatic teasing score.\r\n high be on this 5-point outdo re? ect greater frequency of negative verbal commentary. Coef? cient ? s in the current study were adequate for 424 reports of mothers (0. 72) and fathers (0. 84). none that only 24% of the children in this sample scored above a 0 on this measure. Children, mothers, and fathers accurate the Family biography of alimentation (FHE-Child and FHE-Parent; Moreno and Thelen, 1993). Both magnetic declinations of the FHE are scored along a 5-point Likert case and are used to appreciate attitudes concerning body shape and weight, dieting, and familial eating patterns and behaviors.\r\nThe parent version assesses parents’ perceptions whereas the child version focuses on the child’s perception of the family. Higher numbers re? ect greater familial concern with body shape and weight. Reliabilities in the current study were adequate based on the coef? cient ? for children (0. 80), mothers (0. 77), and fathers (0. 75). confederate In? uences Children completed the broth of partner In? uence on eating Concerns (IPIEC; Oliver and Thelen, 1996), which is a 30-item measure of peer in? uence on children’s eating and body shape concerns.\r\nThe measure consists of 5 factors: Messages, Interactions/Girls, Interactions/Boys, Likability/Girls, and Likability/Boys. The Messages factor re? ects the frequency with which children receive negative messages from peers regarding their body or eating behaviors. The Interactions factors address the frequency with which children interact with peers (boys and girls) about weight and eating habits. The Likability factors measure the degree to which children believe that being thin will increase the degree to which they are liked by their peers (boys and girls).\r\nItems are rated on a 5-point Likert scale, where higher numbers re? ect greater peer in? uence. For the present study, total mean scale scores of all items were used to calculate a total peer in? uence score. The coef? cient ? in the current study (0. 94) was strong. Obesity Level The Quetelet’s office of Fatness is a body ken great power (BMI) that is computed for each child with the avocation formula: weight/(squared height). The Quetelet’s mightiness is used routinely as an index of adiposity and is correlated highly with skinfold and other fatness measures.\r\nHeight and weight were obtained by self-report. Previous research has shown that young adolescents’ self-reports are highly correlated with actual measurements of weight and height (Brooks-Gunn et al. , 1987; Field et al. , 2002). eat overthrow and dust chain Children completed the feeding Disorder chronicle for Children (EDI-C; Garner, 1984), which measures self- Phares, Steinberg, and Thompson perceptions of eating disturbances and body image. Items are answered on a 6-point Likert scale and subscales are averaged to produce mean scale scores.\r\nThree of the eight subscales were used in the present study: Drive for powderiness (excessive concern with dieting, preoccupation with weight, and extreme upkeep of weight gain), consistency Dissatisfaction (dissatisfaction with overall shape and with the size of those body regions of most concern to individuals with eating disorders), and bulimia (thinking about and pleasing in uncontrollable overeating, or binging behaviors). Coef? cient ? s were adequate in the current sample for the Drive for Thinness subscale (0. 83), the form Dissatisfaction subscale (0. 63), and the binge-eating syndrome subscale (0. 76).\r\nOn all subscales, higher numbers re? ect higher levels of body image concerns or related behaviors. mental Functioning Children completed 2 measures that assess their psychological functioning. The Children’s Depression caudex (CDI; Kovacs, 1992) is a widely used self-report measure of affective, cognitive, and beh avioral symptoms of depression in children. Items are scores on a 0- to 2-point scale, with higher scores re? ecting higher levels of depression. The total CDI score, which showed good reliability in the current sample (coef? cient ? = 0. 91) was used. Children also completed the Self-Perception pro? e for Children (Harter, 1985), which assesses children’s perceptions of themselves across diverse universes. For the current study, the world(a) self-worth subscale was used. Note that the global self-worth scale consists of questions that are separate from all of the other domains (e. g. , the physical appearance domain is not subsumed under the global self-worth rating). Higher scores on the 4-point scale re? ect higher perceptions of global self-worth. competent reliability (coef? cient ? = 0. 79) was shown in the current sample. Procedures ready maternal(p) consent and child accept were given for involvement in the study.\r\n erst consent and assent were obtained and entropy army was initiated, no children dropped out of the study nor did any children refuse to take part in the study. Participating children completed questionnaires in elegant groups at school. Examiners read each question aloud and children put their answers on the questionnaires individually. Parents were mail-clad their questionnaires (the FHE-P and a brief demographics form) and were asked to mother their completed questionnaires to the researchers in a postage-paid envelope. Multiple mail- sexual urge Differences in Peer and maternal In? uences instrument panel I.\r\nMeans and t-Tests for sexual practice Comparisons variant personate mass index (BMI) Body Dissatisfaction bulimia Drive for Thinness Family History of alimentationâ€Child Inventory of Peer In? uence on feeding Concerns Perceptions of Teasing†absolute frequency Depression Global Self-Worth a Statistically 425 Girls (n = 77), mean (SD) 18. 91 (3. 80) 20. 29 (10. 10) 13. 38 (7. 32) 18. 21 (9. 64 ) 19. 99 (8. 38) 1. 80 (0. 84) 1. 62 (4. 62) 48. 83 (12. 06) 19. 06 (4. 74) Boys (n = 64), mean (SD) 19. 01 (3. 80) 18. 38 (8. 83) 15. 05 (7. 63) 13. 13 (6. 61) 17. 56 (5. 54) 1. 66 (0. 73) 1. 33 (2. 97) 49. 13 (13. 47) 18. 92 (4. 75) t 0. 09 ? 1. 18 1. 32 ? 3. 58 ? 1. 98 ? . 02 ? 0. 44 0. 14 ? 0. 18 p 0. 932 0. 239 0. 188 0. 000a 0. 049a 0. 311 0. 660 0. 892 0. 859 signi? cant. ings were sent in an attempt to obtain supreme parental participation. The ? nal response rate was 54. 6% (n = 77) for mothers and 34. 0% (n = 48) for fathers. RESULTS Gender Comparisons As expected, girls showed middling greater concern over weight and body image issues than did boys. Signi? cantly more girls (61. 0%) than boys (35. 9%) wanted to lose weight, ? 2 (2) = 13. 38, p < 0. 001. As can be seen in skirt I, at that place were superfluous gender differences on body image, restriction, and disturbed eating behaviors measures.\r\nWhen compared with boys, girls reported a higher fight for thinn ess, t(139) = ? 3. 58; p < 0. 001, and a more troubled family history of eating concerns, t(139) = ? 1. 98; p < 0. 05 (i. e. , girls reported receiving more messages regarding weight and dieting from their parents than did boys). Girls and boys did not differ signi? cantly on body mass index, body dissatisfaction, bulimic behaviors, peers’ eating concerns, or frequency of parental teasing. There were also no gen- der differences in depressive symptoms or global selfworth. Thus, there was some limited support for gender differences.\r\n traffic Between Body Image and psychological Functioning Correlational analyses were computed in order to investigate the relations between body image and psychological functioning. As can be seen in Table II, signi? cant correlation coefficients were revealed for all of the measures for girls and most of the measures for boys. Girls’ reports of body dissatisfaction, bulimic tendencies, and social movement for thinness were relat ed to higher levels of depression and lower levels of global self-worth. For boys, body dissatisfaction was related to higher levels of depression and lower levels of global self-worth.\r\nBulimic tendencies were not significantly related to either depressive symptoms or global self-worth. Drive for thinness was related to lower levels of global self-worth moreover was not signi? cantly related to depression. Thus, the expected pattern of results was found for girls consistently, and partial support was found for boys. Table II. Correlations Between eating Disturbance and psychological Functioning Variables 1 1. Body Dissatisfaction 2. Bulimia 3. Drive for Thinness 4. Family History of consumeâ€Child 5. Inventory of Peer In? uences on consume Concerns 6. Perceptions of Teasingâ€Frequency 7. Depression 8.\r\nGlobal Self-Worth †0. 42?? 0. 42?? 0. 32? 0. 26? 0. 44??? 0. 37?? ?0. 42?? 2 0. 47??? †0. 25? 0. 23 0. 10 0. 29? 0. 14 ? 0. 01 3 0. 56??? 0. 55??? †0. 67 ??? 0. 32? 0. 60??? 0. 19 ? 0. 39? 4 0. 53??? 0. 56??? 0. 58??? †0. 12 0. 41?? ?0. 03 ? 0. 03 5 0. 49??? 0. 55??? 0. 48??? 0. 53??? †0. 18 0. 29? ?0. 21 6 0. 32?? 0. 34?? 0. 27? 0. 44??? 0. 38?? †0. 29? ?0. 37?? 7 0. 58??? 0. 60??? 0. 55??? 0. 63??? 0. 59??? 0. 45??? †? 0. 58??? 8 ? 0. 64??? ?0. 48??? ?0. 49??? ?0. 52??? ?0. 52??? ?0. 35?? ?0. 71??? †Note. Boys are in the lower left quadrant and girls are in the upper right quadrant. ? p < 0. 5; ?? p < 0. 01; ??? p < 0. 001. 426 Relations Between enate In? uences, Peer In? uences, and Body Image Disturbance Table II also reports the results of correlations for parental in? uences, peer in? uences, and body image disturbance. For girls, all of the correlations were signi? cant. Speci? cally, girls’ body dissatisfaction, bulimia, and drive for thinness were related to higher levels of family history of eating concerns, peer in? uences on eating concerns, and perceptions of teasing. For boys, 7 of the 9 correlations were signi? cant. Speci? cally, boys’ body dissatisfaction was signi? antly related to higher levels of family history of eating concerns, peer in? uences on eating concerns, and perceptions of teasing. Boys’ tendency toward bulimia was signi? cantly related to perceptions of teasing, but not family history or peer in? uences. Boys’ drive for thinness was related to family history, peer in? uences, and perceptions of teasing. Overall, there was close to more support for the connections between parental in? uences, peer in? uences, and body image disturbance for girls, but there was clear evidence of connections for boys when body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness were considered.\r\nPhares, Steinberg, and Thompson of family history and children’s reports of eating disturbance and body image concerns. These ? ndings suggest that children’s perceptions of family history and parents’ perceptions of family history ar e not related strongly. Missing Parental entropy To assess whether there were dictatorial differences between parents who did or did not participate, t tests were conducted to show any possible differences between children whose parents returned questionnaires and those children whose parents did not return questionnaires.\r\nWith the exception of family history, t(139) = 2. 33, p < 0. 02, no other signi? cant differences were revealed. Children whose parents returned questionnaires reported signi? cantly higher levels of family emphasis on weight and body shape (M = 20. 15, SD = 7. 90) than children whose parents did not return questionnaires (M = 17. 32, SD = 6. 20). There were no signi? cant differences between children with parental data and children without parental data on the following variables: Body Dissatisfaction (from the EDI-C), Bulimia (from the EDI-C), Drive for Thinness (from the EDI-C), peer in? ences (from the IPIEC), or perceptions to teasing (from the POTS) . Thus, the exploratory analyses with parental data are likely to be generalizable for all of the variables other than family history. Parental Data For exploratory purposes, paired t tests were conducted to examine the differences in mothers’ and fathers’ reports of parental in? uence regarding weight and body shape concerns. Mothers (M = 18. 57, SD = 5. 32) clothed more emphasis on weight and body shape concerns than did fathers (M = 15. 94, SD = 5. 29), t(47) = ? 3. 96, p < 0. 001.\r\nFurther question of parental differences revealed that mothers reported placing more importance on weight and body image concerns than did fathers for both their daughters, t(29) = ? 2. 93, p < 0. 006, and sons, t(27) = ? 2. 61, p < 0. 01. These results suggest that, regardless of child gender, mothers tend to place more emphasis on weight and dieting than do fathers. To examine the relationship between children’s selfreports and parental reports, correlations were co nducted for parents’ reports of family history of eating concerns and children’s reports of eating disturbance and psychological functioning.\r\nA signi? cant correlation was revealed for mothers’ reports of family history and children’s reports of family history, r (77) = 0. 25, p < 0. 05. These results suggest that mothers and children perceived quasi(prenominal) familial in? uences regarding weight and body shape. In addition, signi? cant correlations were revealed for maternal report of family history and children’s report of global self-worth, r (77) = ? 0. 27, p < 0. 05. No other signi? cant correlations were revealed for maternal or paternal reports\r\n watchword Overall, the results of this study support and extend previous research suggesting that both parental and peer in? uences are related to the development of body image and weight concerns in preadolescent girls and boys. It is likely that both factors exemplify an integral pa rt in children’s formations of maladaptive beliefs, attitudes, and expectations concerning weight, physical appearance, and body image. Further, there appear to be some differences but some uniformities in how girls and boys experience these issues.\r\n mistakable to previous research, girls in this study exhibited a somewhat greater degree of concern regarding weight and body image issues than did boys. Not only were they more aware of issues ring weight and dieting, but girls were more officious in attempts to become and/or remain â€Å"thin. ” In addition, it appears that girls received more messages within the family setting regarding weight and body image concerns. Although most investigations of body image concerns tend to recruit only female participants (e. g. , Attie and Brooks-Gunn, 1989; Cattarin and Thompson, 1994), the studies of gender differences\r\nGender Differences in Peer and Parental In? uences in body image have used primarily adolescent samples (e. g. , Childress et al. , 1993; look backed in Cohane and Pope, 2001). The present results support similar ? ndings for preadolescent children, which indicates that these gender differences begin to develop at an earlier age, prior to any pubertal changes (Collins, 1991; Oliver and Thelen, 1996; Shapiro et al. , 1997; Wood et al. , 1996). The results of this study fork up support for a relationship between body image concerns and depressive symptoms (Herzog et al. 1992) and self-esteem (Wood et al. , 1996). Overall, children who convey higher levels of body image disturbance reported higher rates of depressive symptoms and lower levels of global self-worth. Although this pattern was more evident in girls, the same pattern existed for boys when body dissatisfaction was considered. Prior research has revealed support for both parental (Sanftner et al. , 1996; Thelen and Cormier, 1995) and peer (Cattarin and Thompson, 1994; Oliver and Thelen, 1996) in? uences on children’s eating and body image concerns. This study found support for peer and parental in? ences for girls and to a lesser extent, for boys. Most of the research on peer in? uences has been conducted with adolescent populations of girls (Levine et al. , 1994). In this study, similar patterns emerged for boys and girls when body dissatisfaction (as opposed to bulimic tendencies) were evaluated. It may be that preadolescent boys are essay with body dissatisfaction, but in such a manner that is not captured by the measurement of bulimic tendencies. The measurement of parental teasing from the POTS measure was particularly reclaimable in serviceing to understand boys’ experiences.\r\nA number of previous studies have documented the connections between negative verbal commentary and body image concerns in girls (Cattarin and Thompson, 1994; Schwartz et al. , 1999). In the current study, boys’ perceptions of parental teasing were related to higher levels of body dissatisfaction, bulimic tendencies, drive for thinness, family history of eating concerns, and depression and lower levels of global self-worth. Thus, further exploration of perceptions of parental teasing in both boys and girls may be fruitful. On the basis of the results of this study, the implications for prevention and intervention are numerous.\r\nGiven the riches of support for the existence of body image concerns in preadolescent children (Collins, 1991; Shapiro et al. , 1997; Thelen et al. , 1992; Wood et al. , 1996), it is irresponsible to address weight and body image concerns with children prior to adolescence. Psychoeducational programs could be helpful to inform children of the parental, peer, and sociocultural in? uences on their attitudes and beliefs concerning weight and physical appearance. Several universal psychoeducational programs 427 have been instituted and evaluated for school-aged children (reviewed in Levine and Smolak, 2001).\r\nAlthough this study found some gender di fferences in preadolescent children’s experiences of body image disturbance, the common pattern of associations among variables for both boys and girls would suggest that preventive efforts could be targeted to girls and boys together. Intervention programs are also indispensable given the connections between familial in? uences and body image concerns in young children and the resultant connections between body image concerns and eating disorders (Cattarin and Thompson, 1994; Steinhausen and Vollrath, 1993; Thompson et al. 1999). Parents need to be educated about the negative consequences of their own weight and body image issues on the development of related problems in their children (Archibald et al. , 1999). word programs should take family functioning into account and should address the strong connections between body image concerns and ridiculous psychological functioning (Steinberg and Phares, 2001). There are several limitations to the study indicating that these results should be construe with caution. First, the ross-sectional nature of the study precludes interpretations related to causality. For example, it could be that higher levels of depression lead to higher rates of body dissatisfaction in both boys and girls. A prospective study of girls and boys from earlier childhood to adolescence and even adulthood could help answer the direction of causality. In addition, because there was a signi? cant difference in family history of eating concerns (FHE-C) between children with and without completed parental data, the preliminary analyses of parental reports have to be viewed cautiously.\r\nAlthough other studies have found relatively few differences between participating and nonparticipating mothers and fathers (Phares, 1995), the differences in this sample suggest that the parental data may not be representative of the larger population. This study attempted to limit common method difference by including parents rather than just rely ing on children’s self-reports. This inclusion of parents, however, led to other dif? culties. Future studies in this area could bene? t from more intense efforts to recruit and put forward parents for participation in research.\r\nEven with these limitations, this study provided support for parental and peer in? uences on the development of body image disturbance in preadolescent girls and boys. It is likely that both peers and family members contribute to the development of body image disturbance and weight concerns of young children. Although girls appear to be at greater risk for these concerns, this study suggests that attention to both boys’ and girls’ development of body image concerns is warranted. 428 credit rating This study was completed as part of a masters thesis by the ? rst author under the direction of the second and third authors.\r\nREFERENCES Archibald, A. B. , Graber, J. A. , and Brooks-Gunn, J. (1999). Associations among parentâ€adolesc ent relationships, pubertal growth, dieting, and body image in young adolescent girls: A short-term longitudinal study. J. Res. Adolesc. , 9: 395â€415. Attie, I. , and Brooks-Gunn, J. (1989). Development of eating problems in adolescent girls: A longitudinal study. Dev. Psychol. 25: 70†79. Brooks-Gunn, J. , Warren, M. P. , Rosso, J. , and Gargiulo, J. (1987). Validity of self-report measures of girls’ pubertal status. 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