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

daybook of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 33, No. 5, October 2004, pp. 421429 ( C 2004) Gender Differences in peer and P bental In? uences strong-arm structure compute derangement, Self-Worth, and Psycho reproducible Functioning in Pre teenaged Children Vicky Ph bes,1 Ari R. Steinberg,2 and J. Kevin Thompson3 Received April 17, 2003 revised January 20, 2004 accepted February 11, 2004 The conn electroshock therapyions between consistency go out foreboding and mental surgical procedure waste been well established in samples of aged(prenominal)er adolescent girls and novel women. Little is known, however, or so system come across in juvenileer children.In particular, little is known about possible grammatical sexuality dissentences in preteen children. The current subscribe in explored self-reported dust character ruction and psychological functioning in relation to consort and p atomic number 18ntal in? uences in 141 elementary school-aged girls and boys aged 81 1. Results declare that girls are more concerned about fast and are more preoccupied with their tilt than are boys. Girls also reported a great drive for thinness and a higher(prenominal) take of family story of consume concerns than did boys.Correlations suggested that girls experiences of tree trunk reckon concerns ( consistence dissatisfaction, bulimia, and drive for thinness) were connect to a number of factors (such(prenominal) as family tarradiddle of eat concerns, peer in? uences, vamp, slump, and initiation(prenominal) self-worth) whereas boys experiences of body ambit concerns were think to fewer factors. On the root of these ? ndings, the assessment and treatment of body digit concerns in immature children (especi wholey girls) are of great importance. Implications for intervention and measure programs are discussed. KEY WORDS body image peers parents.The prevalence of lading and body image concerns among preadolescent children is overwhelming. Betwe en 30 and 50% of adolescent girls are either concerned about their encumbrance or are actually dieting (e. g. , Thompson and 1 Vicky Phares, Ph. D. is a Professor 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 look for interests are fathers and aimmental psychopathology. She of late published a textbook, Understanding Abnormal Child Psychology with Wiley and Sons.To whom correspondence should be addressed at University of South Florida, Department of Psychology, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, PCD 4118G, Tampa, Florida 33620 e-mail emailprotected cas. usf. edu. 2 Ari R. Steinberg, Ph. D. graduated from the University of South Florida, where she earned her M. A. in Psychology and her Ph. D. in Clinical Psychology. Her major research interests are cognitive and psychosocial correlates to the development of body image e-mail emailprotected cas. usf. edu. 3 J. Kevin Tho mpson, Ph. D. is a Professor of Psychology at the University of South Florida.He received his Ph. D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Georgia. His major research interests are body image and eating disorders. Smolak, 2001). Such concerns about size and/or appearance cave in been name to predict onset of eating disturbances futurely (Cattarin and Thompson, 1994 Stice, 2001). Although most of the front research on eating disorders has focuse on adult women and adolescent girls, it has recently been shown that clog downing concerns and body image disturbance exist in younger girls and boys (Cusumano and Thompson, 2001 Field et al. 2001 Ricciardelli and McCabe, 2001 Ricciardelli et al. , 2000 VanderWal and Thelen, 2000). Self-esteem concerns appear to be related to body image disturbance in young children, scarce at that place does non appear to be a causative link between self-esteem and body image disturbance (Mendelson et al. , 1996). Speci? cally, body image d isturbance and forgetful self-esteem appear to develop concurrently in young boys and girls. Given these important issues, the current analyse attempted to examine the psychological, familial, and social correlates of weight concerns and eating disturbances in preadolescent girls and boys. 21 0047-2891/04/ degree centigrade0-0421/0 C 2004 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 422 BODY IMAGE AND DIETING BEHAVIOR IN ADOLESCENTS AND CHILDREN The connections between body image disturbance and psychological maladjustment in adolescence have been well documented. in that location appears to be pervasive concerns among adolescents with consider to their weight, body image, dieting, and eating behavior (Smolak and Levine, 2001 Thompson et al. , 1999). In fact, averageweight adolescent girls are almost as likely to be dieting as their overweight peers (Rodin et al. , 1985).These patterns are evident in twain clinical and nonclinical samples. Bunnell et al. (1992) inquired body soma con cerns among 5 samples of female adolescents anorexia nervosa clients, bulimia nervosa clients, subclinical anorexia, subclinical bulimia, and n wizating disordered females. They found that body make dissatisfaction was a prominent concern for most adolescent girls regardless of their level of eating pathology. Thus, by the time of adolescence, the majority of girls have developed weight and body concerns and numerous have tried dieting or other(a) strategies to alter their personal appearance.Although these issues have received less research attention in preadolescent children, many of the kindred patterns have emerged in studies of younger children. Children as young as 6 years old express dissatisfaction with their body and a substantial amount (40%) have attempted to recede weight (Thelen et al. , 1992). thither is shew that children as young as 7 are reliable in their reports of dieting (Kostanski and Gullone, 1999). In a sample of thirdthrough sixth- postrs, children w ere very knowledgeable about weight defend methods (Schur et al. , 2000). proboscis dissatisfaction appears to be related to dietary restraint rather than age. In a theatre of operations that compared 9-year-olds and 14-year-olds, girls with highly restrained eating patterns in both age groups showed low body esteem, and discontent with their body embodiment and weight (Hill et al. , 1992). Consistent with research on adolescents and young adults, young girls tend to show this dissatisfaction to a greater extent than boys. In samples of children between the ages of 5 and 11 (Collins, 1991 Cusumano and Thompson, 2001 Williamson and Delin, 2001 Wood et al. 1996), girls reported signi? skyly greater body dissatisfaction than did boys. More girls than boys were dieting in a sample of 1012 year olds (Sands et al. , 1997). Thus, the normative discontent that is shown in adolescent girls and young women (Rodin et al. , 1985) appears to be present in younger girls as well. FAMILIAL INFL UENCES ON BODY IMAGE A logical question relates to why these body image disturbances occur in such young children. Theories of Phares, Steinberg, and Thompson body image disturbance include biological, sociocultural, familial, and peer-related in? ences (Smolak and Levine, 2001 Steinberg and Phares, 2001). Recently, a great deal of attention has been focused on familial and peer in? uences in the development of body image. Regarding familial in? uences, 2 patriarchal mechanisms have been proposed parental modeling 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 teasing. There has been support for both mechanisms in adolescent samples.When 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 narrative of dieting, and wanted their daughte rs to lose more weight (Pike and Rodin, 1991). Rieves and Cash (1996) found that daughters eating disturbances were related to their perceptions of agnate concern with appearance and assimilation with being overweight. These studies suggest that adolescent girls whitethorn be modeling 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) found that mothers and fathers encouragement of weight control were related to daughters desire to be thinner, daughters weight, and dieting behaviors. When actual body weight was controlled statistically, only the consanguinity between daughters dieting and fathers encouragement to diet remained signi? deliver. Direct parental comments about childrens weight had a strong relation with childrens body image, especially mothers comments about their da ughters (Smolak et al. 1999). Thus, it appears that both maternal and paternal in? uences may be relevant to the development of body image concerns and related issues. These ? ndings suggest that parents can in? uence their attitudes and opinions of weight through direct transmission, although the relative salience of mothers versus fathers has yet to be established. Negative verbal rendering in spite of appearance the family, also known as teasing, has received attention recently. badger can be considered an substantiating transmission of parental attitudes and opinions. In a sample of lder adolescent college students, parental teasing of females, entirely non of males, was related to body image dissatisfaction (Schwartz et al. , 1999). In addition, higher levels of teasing and appearance-related feedback predicted higher levels of psychological disturbance. Taken together, these studies all point to the relationships between adolescents body image concerns and parental attit udes and behaviors. Few studies, however, have addressed these issues in younger children. Gender Differences in equal and Parental In? uences PEER INFLUENCES ON BODY IMAGE The uniform point can be made for peer in? uences on body image.Although signi? cant relationships have been found in samples of adolescents, few studies have explored these issues in younger children. When investigating adolescents, one study found that adolescents confused eating and weight concerns were related to the dieting and weight control strategies of peers 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 information 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 commentary by peers has been explored in relation to bo dy image disturbance. Teasing by peers seems to have a strong in? uence on the development of eating and weight concerns (Rieves and Cash, 1996 Thompson, 1996 Thompson and Heinberg, 1993). Teasing by peers tends to be common 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.In a study of adolescent girls, Cattarin and Thompson (1994) found that teasing was a signi? cant predictor of overall appearance dissatisfaction higher up 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 childrens perceptions of peers invalidating 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 tog ether, these studies suggest patterns of familial and peer in? ence on the development of body image concerns. Little is known, however, about the associations of these issues indoors young children. Even 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 CURRENT STUDY On the basis of the ? ndings with adolescent and young adult populations, the current study extends 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 depart also extend this line of research to explore paternal in? uences on body image. It was hypothesized that sex effects would be revealed concerning young chil- 423 drens body image concerns, with young girls reporting more body dissatisfaction and weight-appearance-related concerns than young boys. It was expected th at both girls and boys who reported higher levels of body image concerns would show more psychological problems as exhibited by higher levels of depression and lower levels of perceived competence. Both familial in? uences and peer in? ences were expected to be related to girls and boys body image and eating concerns. METHOD Participants A ingrained of 141 children (64 boys and 77 girls) from two public elementary schools in a large urban area in the southeast participated in the study. On the basis of a power analysis (? level = 0. 05, power = 0. 80, and a medium effect size), it was determined that a minimum sample size of 64 boys and 64 girls would be adequate to test the hypotheses (Cohen, 1992). The mean age of the overall sample was 9. 23 years (SD = 1. 08) and did not take issue 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/La tina, 0. 7% Asian American, and 2. 1% other). With respect to grade level, 14. 2% were in the arcminute grade, 44. 0% were in the third grade, 27. 6% were in the fourth grade, and 14. 2% were in the ? fth grade. The distribution of girls and boys did not differ for race/ethnicity or for grade level ( ps 0. 05). A total of 77 mothers and 48 fathers participated in the study. Measures Family In? uences Two measures were used to assess functioning within the family.The comprehensions of Teasing home plate (POTS) is a revised and extended adjustment of the Physical Appearance Related Teasing Scale (Thompson et al. , 1995). The measure has been used with children as young as 10 years old, therefore, the 8- and 9-year-old participants in this study were younger than previous participants who faultless the POTS. The Weight Teasing Scale, which consists of 6 questions concerned with the frequency of appearancerelated teasing, was used in the current study. Participants answered these questions for their mother and father separately, and lashings were totaled for an overall frequency of parental teasing score.higher(prenominal) numbers game on this 5-point scale 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). Note that only 24% of the children in this sample scored above a 0 on this measure. Children, mothers, and fathers finished the Family History of feeding (FHE-Child and FHE-Parent Moreno and Thelen, 1993). Both versions of the FHE are scored along a 5-point Likert scale and are used to assess attitudes concerning body shape and weight, dieting, and familial eating patterns and behaviors.The parent version assesses parents perceptions whereas the child version focuses on the childs perception of the family. Higher numbers re? ect greater familial concern with body shape and weight. Reliabilities in the current study were adequate ground on the coef? cient ? for children (0. 80), mothers (0. 77), and fathers (0. 75). confederate In? uences Children completed the Inventory of Peer In? uence on take in Concerns (IPIEC Oliver and Thelen, 1996), which is a 30-item measure of peer in? uence on childrens eating and body shape concerns.The 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 depart increase the degree to which they are liked by their peers (boys and girls).Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale, where higher numbers re? ect greater peer in? uence. For the present study, total mean sca le 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 Quetelets Index of Fatness is a body mass advocator (BMI) that is computed for severally child with the following formula weight/(squared height). The Quetelets Index is used routinely as an index of adiposity and is correlated highly with skinfold and other fatness measures.Height 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). eating Disturbance and dead body Image Children completed the eat Disorder Inventory 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.Three of t he eight subscales were used in the present study Drive for tenuity (excessive concern with dieting, preoccupation with weight, and extreme fear of weight gain), remains 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 prosecute in uncontrollable overeating, or binging behaviors). Coef? cient ? s were adequate in the current sample for the Drive for tenuity subscale (0. 83), the clay Dissatisfaction subscale (0. 63), and the Bulimia subscale (0. 76).On 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 Childrens Depression Inventory (CDI Kovacs, 1992) is a widely used self-report measure of affective, cognitive, and behavioral 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 reliableness in the current sample (coef? cient ? = 0. 91) was used. Children also completed the Self-Perception Pro? e for Children (Harter, 1985), which assesses childrens perceptions of themselves across contrastive domains. For the current study, the global self-worth subscale was used. Note that the global self-worth scale consists of questions that are separate from any 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. Adequate reliability (coef? cient ? = 0. 79) was shown in the current sample. Procedures Active parental go for and child assent were given for involvement in the study.Once consent and assent were obtained and information solicitation 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 small 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 return their completed questionnaires to the researchers in a postage-paid envelope. Multiple mail- Gender Differences in Peer and Parental In? uences board I.Means and t-Tests for Gender Comparisons Variable luggage compartment mass index (BMI) Body Dissatisfaction Bulimia Drive for Thinness Family History of EatingChild Inventory of Peer In? uence on Eating Concerns Perceptions of Teasing oftenness 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 maximum parental participation. The ? nal resolution rate was 54. 6% (n = 77) for mothers and 34. 0% (n = 48) for fathers. RESULTS Gender Comparisons As expected, girls showed somewhat 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 plank I, there were additional gender differences on body image, restriction, and disturbed eating behaviors measures.When compared with boys, girls reported a higher drive for thinness, t(139) = ? 3. 58 p 0. 001, and a more degraded family history of eating concerns, t(139) = ? 1. 98 p 0. 05 (i. e. , girls reported receiving more messages regarding w eight 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.Relations Between Body Image and mental 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 correlations were revealed for all of the measures for girls and most of the measures for boys. Girls reports of body dissatisfaction, bulimic tendencies, and drive for thinness were related 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.Bulimic tendencies were not significantly relat ed to either depressive symptoms or global self-worth. Drive for thinness was related to lower levels of global self-worth but 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 EatingChild 5. Inventory of Peer In? uences on Eating Concerns 6. Perceptions of TeasingFrequency 7. Depression 8.Global 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 lo wer left quadrant and girls are in the fastness right quadrant. ? p 0. 5 p 0. 01 p 0. 001. 426 Relations Between Parental 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, a nd perceptions of teasing. Overall, there was somewhat 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.Phares, Steinberg, and Thompson of family history and childrens reports of eating disturbance and body image concerns. These ? ndings suggest that childrens perceptions of family history and parents perceptions of family history are not related strongly. Missing Parental selective information To assess whether there were systematic differences between parents who did or did not participate, t tests were conducted to examine any possible differences between children whose parents returned questionnaires and those children whose parents did not return questionnaires.With the exception of family history, t(139) = 2. 33, p 0. 02, no other signi? cant differences were revealed. Children whose parents r eturned 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) placed more emphasis on weight and body shape concerns than did fathers (M = 15. 94, SD = 5. 29), t(47) = ? 3. 9 6, p 0. 001.Further examination 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 childrens selfreports and parental reports, correlations were conducted for parents reports of family history of eating concerns and childrens reports of eating disturbance and psychological functioning.A signi? cant correlation was revealed for mothers reports of family history and childrens reports of family history, r (77) = 0. 25, p 0. 05. These results suggest that mothers and children perceived homogeneous familial in? uences regarding weight and body shape. In addition, signi? cant correlations were revealed for maternal report of family history and childrens report of global self-worth, r (77) = ? 0. 27, p 0. 05. No other signi? cant correlations were revealed for maternal or paternal reportsDISCUSSION 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 play an integral part in childrens formations of maladaptive beliefs, attitudes, and expectations concerning weight, physical appearance, and body image. Further, there appear to be some differences but some similarities in how girls and boys experience these issues. interchangeable 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 surrounding weight and dieting, but girls were more mobile in attempts to become and/or remain 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 differencesGender Differences in Peer and Parental In? uences in body image have used primarily adolescent samples (e. g. , Childress et al. , 1993 reviewed 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 provide 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 expressed 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 childrens 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 struggling 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 particul arly useful in helping to understand boys experiences.A 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.Given the wealth of support for the instauration of body image concerns in preadolescent children (Collins, 1991 Shapiro et al. , 1997 Thelen et al. , 1992 Wood et al. , 1996), it is imperative to address weight and body image concerns with children prior to adolescence. Psychoeducational programs could be he lpful to inform children of the parental, peer, and sociocultural in? uences on their attitudes and beliefs concerning weight and physical appearance. some(prenominal) universal psychoeducational programs 427 have been instituted and evaluated for school-aged children (reviewed in Levine and Smolak, 2001).Although this study found some gender differences in preadolescent childrens 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 necessary 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 developmen t of related problems in their children (Archibald et al. , 1999). Treatment programs should take family functioning into account and should address the strong connections between body image concerns and poor psychological functioning (Steinberg and Phares, 2001). There are several limitations to the study indicating that these results should be interpreted 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 early 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 prelim analyses of parental reports have to be viewed cautiously.Although other studies have found relatively few differences between fighting(a) 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 variance by including parents rather than just relying on childrens 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 maintain parents for participation in research.Even 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. 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