(NC)—It's not just teens who want to be thin. Girls barely out of diapers already strongly prefer thin individuals to overweight individuals. In new research by Dr. Jennifer Harriger and colleagues at Pepperdine University, California, girls aged 3 to 5 years old have been found to have internalized the negative stereotypes of fat people that abound in society: approximately 70% choose the thinnest figured images over average-sized or fat figures to be their best friend, and to represent themselves on board games. Thin figures were most likely to be described by the girls as nice, smart, friends, neat, cute and quiet. Fatter figures were more likely to be described as mean, stupid, friendless, sloppy, ugly and loud.

Even looking briefly at images of thin women has been convincingly shown to lead to girls feeling worse about their bodies, which is strongly associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety and eating disorders. In addition, girls with negative body image are less likely to do their best in school, physical activity or in social situations.

Without minimizing the concerns of what being fatter can mean to an individual, both in terms of their physical and mental health, Bear contends that the time has come to turn away from scare-mongering. “As a society, and as caregivers, we need to be mindful that our anti-obesity, anti-fat obsession can backfire into creating more body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. We need to encourage health giving beliefs and behaviours, not one-look fits all”.

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