A Qualitative Approach to Understanding the Relationship Between Mothers’ and Daughters’ Body Image and Physical Activity Levels

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the physical activity behaviors and body image of adolescent girls and their mothers. Adolescent girls ( N = 44) and their mothers ( N = 19) were recruited from three middle schools (two Colorado and one South Carolina). Girls qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches comprised 53% (South Carolina), 32% (Colorado), and 39% (Colorado) of participants. Focus groups with questions pertaining to body image and physical activity were conducted with daughters and mothers. The study was approved by the first author’s Institutional Review Board. Data were assessed using the five-step framework analysis. A thematic framework was identified, quotes were divided under the thematic content, and results were then interpreted by analyzing links among the whole data set. Four themes and eight subthemes emerged: (1) complex communication, with subthemes of daughter’s frustration and mother’s confusion, (2) societal expectations of women, with subthemes of social networks and women’s bodies, (3) high prevalence of social comparison, with subthemes of mother/daughter comparison and peer comparison, and (4) daughters’ awareness of mother’s health behaviors, with subthemes of weight loss and physical activity. Interventions aimed at improving adolescent girls’ health should include support for mothers as well as a psychosocial health and a mother’s educational component.

How is Trait Self-Compassion Used During Appearance-Related Distress by Late Adolescents and Emerging Adults With Positive or Negative Body Image? A Qualitative Study

“…Notably, many of the women discussed growing up in an environment where they were exposed to their mothers’ own appearance-related self-criticism. This finding supports prior research (Walters et al, 2020) showing that mothers acknowledge how their self-critical view of their appearance may be transferred to their adolescent daughters. Moreover, some of the young women discussed challenging conversations with peers, which is consistent with prior research (Jones et al, 2004) showing that such appearance conversations may reinforce the value of conforming to appearance ideals and thus contribute to self-judgment/criticism and body image concerns.…”

“It’s what mothers do.” A qualitative exploration of mothers’ experiences of supporting their daughter to be physically active

“…This relationship between mothers engagement in supportive behaviours and children’s level of PA appears to be more pronounced between mother-daughters dyads as compared to mother-son dyads or father-daughter dyads [ 22 , 23 ], highlighting the important role of mothers in promoting PA to girls. While these studies contribute to our knowledge of maternal PA support behaviours, there are gaps in our understanding of the factors influencing these behaviours [ 20 ], for example, most of these studies have been quantitative in nature which has limitations in the depth of understanding it provides [ 29 ]. Thus, there is a need for further qualitative research that includes mothers’ own voices and how they negotiate supporting their daughters to be physically active [ 30 ].…”