BackgroundBody size attitudes and body image form early in life, and understanding the factors that may be related to the development of such attitudes is important to design effective body dissatisfaction and disordered eating prevention interventions. This study explored how fathers’ and mothers’ body size attitudes, body dissatisfaction, and dietary restraint are associated with the body size attitudes and body image of their 4-year-old sons and daughters.MethodsParticipants were 279 4-year-old children (46% boys) and their parents. Children were interviewed and parents completed questionnaires assessing their body size attitudes and related behaviours.ResultsSocially prescribed stereotypical body size attitudes were evident in 4-year-old boys and girls; however, prevalence of body dissatisfaction was low in this sample. Correlation analyses revealed that boys’ body size attitudes were associated with a number of paternal body image variables. In boys, attributing negative characteristics to larger figures and positive characteristics to thinner figures were associated with fathers having more negative attitudes towards obese persons. Attributing positive characteristics to larger figures by boys was associated with greater levels of paternal dietary restraint. In girls, attributing positive characteristics to thinner figures was only associated with greater maternal dietary restraint.ConclusionsFindings suggest the possibility that fathers’ body size attitudes may be particularly important in establishing body size attitudes in their sons. Further research is necessary to better understand the role of fathers in the development of children’s body size attitudes.

BackgroundEvaluation of media literacy-based interventions for the prevention of eating disorder risk is limited by the lack of appropriate measures with established psychometric properties with which to assess change in media literacy. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the psychometric properties and use in eating disorders risk factor research of six measures of media literacy that assess media processing and critical thinking about general media and critical thinking about appearance-focused media.MethodsThe factor structure, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity, including convergent and discriminant validity, were examined in six measures in two samples of early adolescent females. The measures were the Realism Scepticism, Similarity Scepticism, and Desirability Scepticism subscales of the Media Attitudes Questionnaire, the Fake subscale of the Critical Processing of Beauty Images Scale, the Critical Thinking about Media Messages scale, and Critical Thinking about Media Messages - Appearance Focus scale.ResultsThe factor structure of the measures was supported with factor analysis. Items from the Media Attitudes Questionnaire loaded on the three subscales Realism Scepticism, Similarity Scepticism, and Desirability Scepticism and items from each of the Fake subscale, Critical Thinking about Media Messages scale and Critical Thinking about Media Messages - Appearance Focus scale loaded on one scale. In addition, scores on the measures were reliable (adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability) and valid (adequate construct, convergent, and discriminant validity) in early adolescent females. Two exceptions were Realism Scepticism, which had slightly low test-retest reliability, and the Fake subscale, for which support for construct validity was lacking.ConclusionsThis study provides evidence to support the use of select media literacy measures, particularly the Realism Scepticism subscale and the Critical Thinking about Media Messages scale, in eating disorder risk factor research and the findings will contribute to enhanced evaluation of media literacy-based prevention interventions.

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Despite evidence that parents can influence the development of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in older children and adolescents, few studies have examined relationships between parents' body size attitudes and related behaviours and the body size attitudes of pre-school children. In particular, there has been little focus on relationships between fathers' attitudes and the attitudes of their young sons, the central aim of this study. Participants were 279 four-year-old children (46% boys) and their mothers (N= 270) and fathers (N= 205). Children were interviewed to assess their body size attitides and body ideals. Parents completed questionnaires assessing their weight-based attitudes, internalisation of media and athletic body ideals, body image and dieting. Paternal concern about their son's weight was associated with boys' body dissatisfaction (wanting to be larger). For boys, both negative and positive body size stereotyping were associated with paternal negative attitudes towards obese people. For girls, positive body size stereotyping was associated with maternal dieting. Results suggest that even at young ages, children may be influenced by parental attitudes. Fathers may be conveying the muscular ideal to their sons and mothers may be conveying the thin ideal to their daughters.This abstract was presented in the Parental Roles in Prevention and Support stream of the 2014 ANZAED Conference.

Research has established that exposure to thin-ideal media images has a small negative effect on body image. Less is known about the processes that mediate this effect. In an experimental design, this study aimed to compare the effect on body satisfaction of exposure to thin-ideal images in three conditions: 1) Control, 2) Appearance Comparison (AC), and 3) Peer Appearance Norms (PN). Participants were 140 female year 7 students who viewed 10 media images, before and after which they completed measures of body satisfaction. During exposure, participants responded to questions about the images which focused on design features for control, comparison of oneself with the images for AC, or consideration of peers' appearance-based judgements of others for PN participants. Analysis of covariance revealed a significant effect of condition on body satisfaction. Post-hoc tests indicated that the AC group had significantly lower post-exposure body satisfaction than both control and PN conditions. The latter two groups were not significantly different from one another. The results of this study add to and extend the small but growing body of evidence that engaging in appearance comparisons, but not consideration of peer appearance norms, while viewing images is a critical process in the manifestation of negative effects for body satisfaction.