103

The
British
Psychological
British Journal of Developmental Psychology (2005), 23, 103–116
q 2005 The British Psychological Society
Society

www.bpsjournals.co.uk

Peer influences on body dissatisfaction and dieting

awareness in young girls

Hayley K. Dohnt* and Marika Tiggemann

Flinders University, Australia

Aim. This study aimed to explore the role of peer influences in the development of
body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness in young girls.
Method. A sample of 81 girls (aged 5 – 8 years) were recruited from the first 3 years
of formal schooling. Girls were individually interviewed. Body dissatisfaction was
assessed by means of figure rating preferences, and dieting awareness by responses to a
brief scenario. A number of sources of peer influence were also assessed.
Results. Year 2 girls were found to display significantly greater body dissatisfaction
than younger girls. All girls, irrespective of age, preferred a similar thin ideal figure. Year
level constituted the only significant predictor of dieting awareness, with older girls
demonstrating a greater understanding of dieting than younger girls. Importantly, girls’
perception of their peers’ body dissatisfaction emerged as the strongest predictor of
their own level of body dissatisfaction.
Conclusions. Body dissatisfaction in girls first emerges during the junior primary
school years, between ages 5 and 7 years, and appears to be a function of shared peer
norms for thinness.

Body dissatisfaction, in particular a desire to be thinner, has become so pervasive and

common an experience for women in contemporary society as to have been termed
‘a normative discontent’ (Rodin, Silberstein, & Striegel-Moore, 1985). Such body
dissatisfaction carries a number of important negative consequences for women, in
terms of excessive dieting (Stice, Mazotti, Krebs, & Martin, 1998) and lowered self-
esteem (Tiggemann, 1997), and has emerged as the most consistent predictor of
disordered eating (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999).
Although research originally targeted adolescence as the likely time for the
emergence of body dissatisfaction, there is now growing consensus that it begins
considerably earlier in childhood. Clear evidence has accumulated that a substantial
number of pre-adolescent girls (as young as 7 – 8 years old) are dissatisfied with their
bodies and wish to be thinner (Collins, 1991; Hill & Pallin, 1998; Konstanski & Gullone,
1999; Maloney, McGuire, Daniels, & Specker, 1989; Rolland, Farnill, & Griffiths, 1997;

* Correspondence should be addressed to Hayley Dohnt, School of Psychology, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide
5001, South Australia (e-mail: hayley.dohnt@flinders.edu.au).

DOI:10.1348/026151004X20658
104 Hayley K. Dohnt and Marika Tiggemann

Thelen & Cormier, 1995; Thompson, Corwin, & Sargent, 1997; Tiggemann &
Pennington, 1990; Tiggemann & Wilson-Barrett, 1998; Wood, Becker, & Thompson,
1996). Many studies also identify the existence of dieting-like behaviours in this age
group (Hill, Oliver, & Rogers, 1992; Hill & Pallin, 1998; Maloney, McGuire, & Daniels,
1998; Schur, Sanders, & Steiner, 2000). Importantly, such body dissatisfaction among
children has now been implicated as a precursor for lower self-esteem, diminished
psychological well-being, and the development of later eating disorders (for reviews, see
Ricciardelli & McCabe, 2001; Smolak & Levine, 2001).
As yet, little research has focused on children younger than 7 years of age. Hendy,
Gustitus, and Leitzel-Schwalm (2001) found little evidence of body dissatisfaction in
their sample of preschool children (mean age of 4 years 6 months). Nor did Lowes and
Tiggemann (2003) find body dissatisfaction in their sample of 5-year-old girls. Similarly,
Davison, Markey, and Birch (2000) reported that ‘less than one in ten’ of their 5-year-old
girls were dissatisfied with their bodies. In contrast, Flannery-Schroeder and Chrisler
(1996) reported that a substantial 36.4% of their sample of 6- to 7-year-old girls reported
that they wished they were thinner. Lowes and Tiggemann (2003) also found that both
6- and 7-year-old girls rated their ideal figure as significantly thinner than their current
figure and they concluded that body dissatisfaction emerges at around age 6. Further,
both studies demonstrated that a substantial number of girls were well aware of the
concept of dieting and able to suggest restrictive eating practices as the means to
achieve the ideal shape, and that levels of dieting awareness increased with age.
Collectively, these early findings suggest that the desire for thinness emerges among girls
somewhere between 5 and 7 years of age. Thus the first aim of the present study was to
further examine systematically the development of body dissatisfaction and dieting
awareness in junior primary school girls across this age range.
The identification of the specific sociocultural factors which play a causal role in the
development of body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness at such a young age has
particular social urgency. The general sociocultural model (Thompson et al., 1999)
maintains that current societal standards of beauty inordinately emphasize the
desirability of thinness, an ideal accepted and internalized by most women. This thin
ideal is transmitted and reinforced by a number of different social agents, including
family, peers and the mass media. Not surprisingly, parental influences have received the
most research attention as the most salient source of information for young children
(Smolak & Levine, 2001). A number of studies have confirmed that maternal
comments and modelling do influence pre-adolescent girls’ attitudes concerning weight
and shape (e.g. Hill & Pallin, 1998; Smolak, Levine, & Schermer, 1999; Thelen &
Cormier, 1995).
However, the major life event which occurs over the 5 – 7 year age range, when body
dissatisfaction and dieting awareness appear to first develop, is the commencement of
schooling. For many young children, going to school may represent the first time they
become exposed to substantial influence from outside the family home, in particular, to
influence from their peers. Thus peer influence, which has been investigated
extensively for adolescents but has implicitly been assumed as more-or-less irrelevant for
young children, may in fact be particularly salient for this age group. As children enter
school, greater time is spent in peer interaction and communication, and hence peers
assume a greater importance in children’s lives (Hartup, 1983; Herbert, 1991). Along
with increasing cognitive competence, increased exposure to peers in the classroom
provides the opportunity for increasing levels of social comparison over the early years
of schooling (Ruble, 1994). Findings with older children and adolescents confirm that
 Peer influences on body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness 105

social comparison on the basis of appearance is related to body dissatisfaction

(e.g. VanderWal & Thelen, 2000).
There are a number of potential mechanisms of peer influence. Studies with
adolescent girls have demonstrated the existence of shared group norms for body-
image concerns, such that girls’ levels of body dissatisfaction and dieting are related
to those of their peers (Lieberman, Gauvin, Bukowski, & White, 2001; Paxton,
Schutz, Wertheim, & Muir, 1999). These studies have also linked level of peer
acceptance to body dissatisfaction and dieting behaviours (Lieberman et al., 2001;
Paxton et al., 1999), with girls higher in peer acceptance engaging in more
discussions about body shape and subject to more peer influence. Peer discussions
themselves have been linked to body dissatisfaction and dieting behaviours (Levine,
Smolak, Moodey, Shuman, & Hessen, 1994; Vincent & McCabe, 2000). Among pre-
adolescent girls, teasing has been found to be a consistent predictor of body-image
concerns (Fabian & Thompson, 1989; Oliver & Thelen, 1996; VanderWal & Thelen,
2000), as has girls’ belief that being thin would make them more liked by their peers
(Oliver & Thelen, 1996; Taylor et al., 1998). As yet, however, research has failed to
examine peer influences for younger children.
Therefore the present study sought to explore the role of peer influences in the
development of body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness among girls in their first
3 years of formal schooling, and thus aged between 5 and 7 years. In particular,
perceived peer norms, perceived peer acceptance, peer discussion, as well as awareness
of teasing and likeability on the basis of body shape, were examined as indicators of peer
influence.

Method
Participants
The participants were 81 girls attending two private single-sex girls’ schools in Adelaide,
South Australia. The majority of students attending these schools (. 90%) are Caucasian
and from middle- to upper-class families. Girls were recruited from the first 3 years of
school: Reception (N ¼ 28, mean age ¼ 5.18 years, SD ¼ 0:39), Year 1 (N ¼ 25, mean
age ¼ 6.12 years, SD ¼ 0:33) and Year 2 (N ¼ 28, mean age ¼ 7.11 years, SD ¼ 0:42).
Girls’ body mass index (BMI) ranged from 11.87 to 25.79, with an average BMI
of 15.89 (SD ¼ 2:15). Of this sample, 11 girls (14%) could be classified as overweight
and three (4%) obese, according to age-related international cut-off points for BMI
(Cole, Bellizzi, Flegal, & Dietz, 2000). These figures are similar to a set of Australia norms
for 7- to 15-year-old girls (15.85% overweight and 5.35% obese) using the same
international cut-off points (Magarey, Daniels, & Boulton, 2001).

Measures
Children were individually interviewed. As weight and shape constitute potentially
sensitive issues, all questions were carefully designed to be as innocuous as possible.
Thus no explicit reference was made to the girl’s weight or shape or how she felt about
this, and questions targeted awareness, rather than actual experience, of teasing and
likeability on the basis of body shape. A yes/no response format was adopted for most
questions, with the explicit provision of an ‘I don’t know’ response option as suggested
by Huon, Godden, and Brown (1997). Pilot testing of two girls (aged 5 and 7 years)
revealed no particular difficulties.
106 Hayley K. Dohnt and Marika Tiggemann

Body dissatisfaction
Following Lowes and Tiggemann (2003), body dissatisfaction was assessed using the
girls’ version of the Children’s Figure Rating Scale (Tiggemann & Wilson-Barrett, 1998)
presented on A3-size brightly coloured laminated card. This measure was chosen for this
age group, as it does not require any sophisticated verbal ability, with the children
simply able to point to the chosen figure. As a consequence, these figure-rating scales
have become one of the most commonly used measures with children and adolescents
(Gardner, 2001). Here the scale consisted of nine young female silhouette drawings,
ranging from 1 (very thin) to 9 (very fat). Girls were asked to point to ‘the girl who looks
most like you’ (current), and then to the girl they ‘would most like to look like’ (ideal).
Body dissatisfaction was calculated as the difference between these figure ratings
(current –ideal). Thus, a score of zero indicates body satisfaction; a negative score
indicates body dissatisfaction in the direction of desiring a larger figure; and a positive
score indicates body dissatisfaction in the direction of desiring a thinner figure.

Dieting awareness
Dieting awareness was assessed using a slight modification of the technique employed
by Lowes and Tiggemann (2003). After being asked the meaning of the word ‘holiday’ as
a warm-up, girls were asked whether they knew what a diet was, followed by two
questions: (a) ‘What is a diet?’ and (b) ‘Why do you think people go on a diet?’
The response for question (a) was scored: 0 if the girl gave an irrelevant answer or did
not know what a ‘diet’ was; 1 if the child gave an answer that did not specifically refer to
dietary restraint; or 2 if the child specified restrictive eating practices. Similarly question
(b) was scored: 0 if the child had no idea why people might go on a diet; 1 if the
response was only peripherally related to dieting behaviours (e.g. to get healthy); or 2 if
they referred to physical appearance or previous eating habits (e.g. to lose weight).
A total score for definition of the word ‘diet’ was obtained by summing scores for
questions (a) and (b). Thus scores ranged from 0 to 4. Internal reliability in the current
sample was moderately high (Cronbach’s a ¼ :89).
It is possible that children may not be able to define the word ‘diet’, yet are able to
understand the notion of dieting (Lowes & Tiggemann, 2003). Thus, understanding of
the concept (as opposed to definition) of dieting as a means to lose weight was then
assessed through a small story about a fictional character ‘Anne’, inspired by Hill and
Pallin’s (1998) ‘Mary-Jane’. In the present study girls were shown an A4-size picture of
‘Anne’ (Figure 5 on the Children’s Figure Rating Scale) and informed, ‘This is what Anne
looked like a year ago’. They were then presented with a larger figure (Figure 8, the
second-to-largest figure) and told, ‘This is what she looks like now’. The girls were then
asked: (a) ‘Why do you think this happened?’; (b) ‘Although Anne looks fine like this
(Figure 8), if she wanted to look like this (Figure 5) again, what could she do?’; and
(c) ‘What would you do if the same thing happened to you?’. Each question was scored:
0 if the child did not know; 1 if they referred to exercise or some other activity; or 2 if
they specifically referred to eating as the reason for Anne’s weight gain and
recommended some form of dietary restraint (e.g. ‘go on a diet’). Where more than one
response was provided, scoring was based on the presence of eating behaviour as a
means to lose weight. A total score (0 –6) for conceptual awareness of dieting was
calculated by summing the scores for the three questions. Internal reliability for this
measure was moderately high (Cronbach’s a ¼ :84).
 Peer influences on body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness 107

Perceived peers’ body dissatisfaction

Girls’ perception of the body dissatisfaction of their peers was measured using the
enlarged and laminated Children’s Figure Rating Scale (Tiggemann & Pennington, 1990).
Girls were asked to name one friend in their class. They were then asked, ‘Can you point
to the girl who looks like your friend ______?’ (friend current), and also ‘Which girl do
you think your friend _____ would like to look like?’ (friend ideal). Girls were then
asked, ‘Which girl do you think most of the girls in your class look like?’ (peer current);
and ‘Which girl do you think most of the girls in your class would like to look like?’ (peer
ideal). As there was a significant positive correlation (r ¼ :26, p , :05) between friend
and peer body dissatisfaction (current– ideal), they were averaged to provide a measure
of girls’ perceptions of their peers’ body dissatisfaction.

Awareness of teasing
Girls’ awareness of teasing on the basis of weight was assessed using a similar
methodology to that used to measure dieting awareness. Girls were shown Figure 5 (in a
blue dress) and informed, ‘Remember, this is what Anne looked like a year ago’. They
were then shown Figure 8 (in a pink dress) and asked, ‘Since then, she has gone to a new
school. This is what she looks like now. What do you think the children at Anne’s “new
school” would say to her?’ Responses were scored: 0 if the child did not know, or
responded with a positive comment; 1 if the response was negative, but did not refer
specifically to Anne’s weight; or 2 for a specific negative comment about Anne’s weight
(e.g. ‘you are fat!’). The issues of different schools and different coloured dresses were
introduced to decrease demand characteristics that children comment on Anne’s
weight.

Awareness of likeability
Awareness of likeability on the basis of weight was assessed using the same scenario.
Girls were asked, ‘Do you think children at her new school (Figure 8) would play with
Anne?’ (‘Yes’ ¼ 0, ‘I don’t know’/‘Maybe’ ¼ 1, ‘No’ ¼ 2); and ‘Do you think that
other children would play with Anne more when she was at her old school (Figure 5), or
while she is at her new school (Figure 8), or would they play with Anne the same
amount?’ (‘New school’ ¼ 0, ‘Same’ ¼ 1, ‘Old school’ ¼ 2). Scores for the two items
were summed to produce a total score for likeability ranging from 0 to 4. Given that
there were only two items, internal reliability was considered adequate (Cronbach’s
a ¼ :63).

Peer discussion
To examine peer discussion about body shapes the girls were shown a picture of a group
of girls and informed, ‘See these girls. They are talking with each other about the way
their bodies look. Do you ever talk about the way your bodies look with your friends?’
(‘Yes’/‘No’).

Peer acceptance
Girls’ perceived peer acceptance was measured by the Peer Acceptance subscale of the
Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence/Social Acceptance, designed for use with
children 7 years and younger (Harter & Pike, 1984). The Peer Acceptance scale consists
108 Hayley K. Dohnt and Marika Tiggemann

of six items each depicting two scenarios, for example, ‘This girl has lots of friends to
play with’(Picture 1) and ‘This girl doesn’t have many friends to play with’ (Picture 2).
The girls were asked which scenario best describes them. If they selected Picture 1 they
were asked, ‘Do you have “a whole lot” (4 points) or “pretty many” (3 points) friends to
play with?’ If they selected Picture 2 they were asked, ‘Do you have “a few” (2 points) or
“hardly any” (1 point) friends to play with?’ Thus each response was scored 1 – 4.
Responses for the six pictures were totalled and averaged to produce an overall score of
girls’ perceptions of their peer acceptance ranging from 1 to 4. Harter and Pike (1984)
report that the total scale, and its subscales, have adequate validity and reliability for use
with children of this age.

Body mass index

Each child was weighed and her height measured in order to calculate BMI, as the ratio
of weight (kg) to height (m)2 (Garrow & Webster, 1985).

Procedure
After approval from the school was granted, a letter of introduction and a consent form
were sent to the parents of 141 girls in the two schools. Eighty-one forms were returned,
equating to a response rate of 57%. Girls were individually interviewed during normal
class time in a separate room, with each interview requiring approximately 10– 15
minutes to complete. Measures were presented in the following order: body
dissatisfaction, perceived peer norms, dieting awareness, awareness of teasing,
awareness of likeability, peer acceptance, and peer discussion. The order of
administration was chosen, based on prior pilot testing, as the most straightforward
and simple for use with young children. Thus, those measures that used similar tasks
were presented in a row. To ensure that the interview finished in a positive manner, a
final question was included, ‘Tell me, what do you like to do with your friends?’. Weight
and height were then measured, and each girl was given a sticker as a small reward for
her participation.

Results
Body dissatisfaction
As expected, the desire for thinness significantly increased with year level,
x2 ð2Þ ¼ 10:78, p , :01, with 28.6% of Reception girls, 41.7% of Year 1 girls, and fully
71.4% of Year 2 girls desiring a thinner ideal than their current figure. The means for
current and ideal figure ratings, as well as for body dissatisfaction (current– ideal), are
presented in Table 1 for each year level: Reception (N ¼ 28), Year 1 (N ¼ 25), and Year 2
(N ¼ 28).

Table 1. Means (and standard deviations) of girls’ figure rating preferences

Possible range Reception Year 1 Year 2

Current 1–9 3.57 (1.62) 4.04 (1.20) 4.46 (1.14)

Ideal 1–9 3.75 (1.43) 3.88 (1.45) 3.50 (1.35)
Body dissatisfaction 28 to þ 8 2 0.18 (1.63) 0.17 (1.55) 0.96 (0.96)
 Peer influences on body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness 109

A mixed-design ANOVA with year level as the between-subjects variable and question
as the repeated measure was performed on the ratings of current and ideal figures.
A significant main effect for question was found, Fð1; 77Þ ¼ 4:05, p , :05, whereby the
current figure was rated as significantly larger than the ideal figure. There was no effect
for year level, Fð2; 77Þ ¼ 0:63, p . :05. Most importantly, there was a significant
interaction between year level and question, Fð2; 77Þ ¼ 4:84, p , :05, with older girls
displaying a greater discrepancy between current and ideal figure ratings than
younger girls. Follow-up planned comparisons of each year level confirmed that there
was a significant difference between figure ratings for Year 2 girls, tð27Þ ¼ 5:31,
p , :001, with girls preferring a thinner ideal than current figure. This difference was
not significant for Reception, tð27Þ ¼ 20:58, p . :05, or Year 1 girls, tð23Þ ¼ 0:53,
p . :05.
The means in Table 1 suggest the year level differences to be primarily a function of
differences in the rating of current figure. A one-way ANOVA confirmed a significant
difference in current figure ratings, Fð2; 78Þ ¼ 3:14, p , :05. This was consistent with
an actual increase in BMI across year levels. Year 2 girls (M ¼ 16:79, SD ¼ 2:87) had
significantly larger BMIs than girls both in Year 1 (M ¼ 15:37, SD ¼ 1:52) and in
Reception (M ¼ 15:46, SD ¼ 1:47), Fð2; 78Þ ¼ 4:02, p , :05. In contrast, the
difference between year levels in choice of ideal figure was not significant,
Fð2; 77Þ ¼ 0:49, p . :05, indicating that all the girls desired a similar ideal figure.

Dieting awareness
Although only 22.2% could accurately define the word ‘diet’, overall the girls
demonstrated a considerable conceptual understanding of dieting. A total of 65%
attributed Anne’s weight gain to unhealthy eating practices, and 48.1% suggested dietary
restraint for Anne to lose weight. A substantial 45.7% also indicated that they would use
some form of dietary restraint if they gained weight similarly to Anne. Even a number of
Reception girls were well aware of the concept of dieting, with 35.7% referring to
Anne’s eating habits as the reason for her weight gain, and 28.6% suggesting dietary
restraint for Anne to lose weight. One Reception girl even suggested Anne ‘call Jenny
Craig’. Table 2 displays the means for dieting awareness across year levels.

Table 2. Means (and standard deviations) for year-level differences in dieting awareness

Range Reception Year 1 Year 2

Dieting definition 0–4 0.36 (0.87) 1.52 (1.66) 2.29 (1.56)

Dieting concept 0–6 2.79 (2.10) 3.88 (2.11) 5.25 (1.11)

A one-way between-groups MANOVA (dieting definition and dieting concept as

multiple dependent variables) was performed to investigate year – level differences in
dieting awareness. A significant main effect was found, Fð4; 154Þ ¼ 8:28, p , .001.
Univariate ANOVAs revealed that year level was significant for both dieting definition,
Fð2; 78Þ ¼ 13:50, p , :001, and dieting concept, Fð2; 78Þ ¼ 12:87, p , :001. Post hoc
analyses using Tukey’s HSD test ( p , :05) showed that Year 2 and Year 1 girls had
significantly greater ability to define the word ‘diet’ than Reception girls. Year 2 girls
demonstrated significantly more understanding of the concept of dieting than both
Reception and Year 1 girls. In sum, older girls displayed greater dieting awareness than
younger girls.
110 Hayley K. Dohnt and Marika Tiggemann

Peers’ body dissatisfaction

Means for the girls’ perceptions of their peers’ figure preferences are presented in
Table 3. To examine year – level differences, a mixed-design ANOVA was conducted,
with perceived current and ideal figure ratings as the repeated measure. A significant
main effect for question was found, Fð1; 70Þ ¼ 7:41, p , :01, with perceptions of
current figure ratings significantly larger than ideal figure ratings. Neither the main effect
for year level, Fð2; 70Þ ¼ 1:68, p . :05, nor the interaction with question,
Fð2; 70Þ ¼ 1:92, p . :05, was significant. Nevertheless, planned comparisons of each
year level revealed that only Year 2 girls displayed a significant difference between figure
ratings, tð27Þ ¼ 5:37, p , :001, such that they thought their peers would prefer a
thinner ideal to their current figure. The difference between perceived peers’ current
and ideal figure ratings was not significant for girls in Reception, tð23Þ ¼ 0:49, p . :05,
or Year 1, tð21Þ ¼ 1:43, p . :05.

Table 3. Means (and standard deviations) for year-level differences in peer influence variables

Range Reception Year 1 Year 2

Peers body dissatisfaction

Current 1– 9 4.47 (1.34) 4.07 (1.37) 4.29 (0.99)
Ideal 1– 9 4.35 (1.50) 3.68 (1.16) 3.68 (0.93)
Body dissatisfaction 2 8 to þ8 0.20 (1.47) 0.37 (1.25) 0.61 (0.60)
Awareness of teasing 0– 2 0.93 (0.94) 1.52 (0.82) 1.32 (0.86)
Awareness of likeability 0– 4 2.68 (1.42) 3.12 (1.09) 3.14 (1.08)
Peer discussions 0– 2 0.21 (0.42) 0.20 (0.41) 0.14 (0.36)
Peer acceptance 1– 4 3.09 (0.60) 2.99 (0.48) 2.93 (0.59)

Awareness of teasing and likeability

Girls seemed particularly aware of teasing and likeability on the basis of weight and shape
as forms of peer influence. Examination of each year level revealed that a substantial
proportion of Reception girls (39.3%) believed that other children would tease Anne due
to her weight gain, compared to 72% of Year 1 girls and 57.1% of Year 2 girls. Awareness of
likeability appeared to increase only marginally from Reception (53.6%) to Year 1 (60%)
and Year 2 (60.7%), but suggested that most girls believed being thin would increase
likeability. Means for awareness of teasing and likeability are presented in Table 3.
To examine whether the awareness of teasing and likeability increased with year
level, two one-way ANOVAs were conducted. There was a significant effect of year level
for awareness of teasing, Fð2; 78Þ ¼ 3:15, p , :05. Post hoc comparisons using Tukey’s
HSD test (p , :05) indicated that Year 1 girls were more aware of teasing than Reception
girls, and that Year 2 girls did not differ significantly from either of the other two years.
For awareness of likeability, the difference between year levels was not significant,
Fð2; 78Þ ¼ 1:29, p . :05.

Peer discussion
The results for peer discussion indicate that junior primary school girls do not
participate in discussions about bodies with their friends very frequently. Only 21.4% of
Reception girls, 20% of Year 1 girls, and 14.3% of Year 2 girls said that they discussed
their body shape with their friends. A one-way ANOVA showed that peer discussion did
not change with year level, Fð2; 78Þ ¼ 0:26, p . :05.
 Peer influences on body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness 111

Peer acceptance
In general girls in the present sample perceived themselves to be accepted by their
peers (M ¼ 3:00, SD ¼ 0:56). This level of peer acceptance did not change with year
level, Fð2; 78Þ ¼ 0:57, p . :05.

Relationships among predictor variables, body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness

Table 4 presents the intercorrelations between the predictor variables and body
dissatisfaction and dieting awareness (concept). It can be seen that year level was
significantly positively related to both body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness,
supporting earlier results. BMI was significantly positively related only to body
dissatisfaction, suggesting that girls with larger BMIs had greater dissatisfaction with
their bodies.

Table 4. Correlations between peer influences and body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1. Year level – .26* .15 .18 .16 2 .08 2.19 .50** .33**
2. BMI – 2 .02 .04 .17 2 .02 2.13 .20 .30**
3. Peers’ body dissatisfaction – 2 .02 .10 .05 2.01 .23* .39**
4. Teasing – .51** 2 .10 2.10 .31** .07
5. Likeability – 2 .20 2.14 .29** .19
6. Discussions – .13 2 .01 .00
7. Peer acceptance – 2 .22 2.15
8. Dieting awareness – .22*
9. Body dissatisfaction –

*p , :05;**p , :01:

Girls’ perceptions of their peers’ body dissatisfaction was positively related to both
their own level of body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness. Thus those girls who
perceived that their peers would prefer a thinner ideal figure themselves preferred a
thinner ideal figure and displayed greater dieting awareness. Additionally, the peer
influences of awareness of teasing and likeability were related to dieting awareness, but
were not related to girls’ own body dissatisfaction. Neither peer discussion nor peer
acceptance were significantly related to either body dissatisfaction or dieting awareness.

Predictors of body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness

In order to assess which variables predicted girls’ body dissatisfaction and dieting
awareness, two simultaneous multiple regression analyses were conducted.
The predictors entered were year level, BMI, awareness of teasing and likeability,
peer discussion, peer body dissatisfaction, and peer acceptance. The resulting
regression coefficients (betas) are presented in Table 5.
The first regression analysis showed the predictor variables to account for a
significant 29.9% of the variance in body dissatisfaction, Fð7; 71Þ ¼ 4:32, p , :001.
Significant unique predictors were BMI, whereby heavier girls desired a thinner figure,
and peer body dissatisfaction. This suggests that girls’ own body dissatisfaction may
operate through perceptions of their peers’ body dissatisfaction. For dieting concept,
112 Hayley K. Dohnt and Marika Tiggemann

Table 5. Predictors of body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness

Body dissatisfaction Dieting awareness

Predictors b b

Year level .19 .40**

BMI .24* .06
Peer influences
Peers’ body dissatisfaction .35** .16
Awareness of teasing 2 .01 .17
Awareness of likeability .08 .11
Peer discussions .03 .08
Peer acceptance 2 .09 2.13
Full predictor set R 2 ¼ :30** R 2 ¼ :36**

*p , :05;**p , :01.

the overall regression model was highly significant, Fð7; 71Þ ¼ 5:72, p , :001, and
explained 36.1% of the variance in dieting concept. It can be seen that year level was the
only significant individual predictor of dieting awareness.

Discussion
The present study has confirmed that a substantial number of young girls express a wish
to be thinner and are well aware of dieting as a way of achieving the thin ideal. As such, it
contributes to the small but increasing literature on the body image of girls under the
age of 7 years. With respect to body dissatisfaction, the finding that 46.9% of the total
sample desired to be thinner is congruent with Lowes and Tiggemann’s (2003) result for
5- to 7-year-old children, as well as the results from studies with older pre-adolescent
children, which have consistently shown that between 30% and 59% of girls wished to
be thinner (Ricciardelli & McCabe, 2001; Rolland et al., 1997; Wood et al., 1996).
Of particular importance, the examination by year level allowed a more detailed
analysis of the development of body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness across the
early years of schooling. In general, the earlier finding of Lowes and Tiggemann’s (2003)
was replicated. As a group, the girls in Reception displayed little body dissatisfaction,
confirming some previous work with 4- to 5-year-olds (Davidson et al., 2000; Hendy
et al., 2001). However, by near the beginning of Year 2, fully 71.4% desired a thinner
figure, 92.6% blamed Anne’s eating for her weight gain, and 71.4% would diet if they
gained similar weight to Anne. Clearly body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness
develop over the first two years of schooling, in accord with suggestions that
somewhere around age 6 marks the beginning of a developmental progression in the
recognition and adoption of sociocultural ideals of the attractive body ( Thelen,
Lawrence, & Powell, 1992; Lowes & Tiggemann, 2003).
Nevertheless, a significant proportion of Reception girls (about a third) displayed a
good understanding of dieting as a means to lose weight, supporting previous
demonstrations of dieting awareness in young children (Flannery-Schroeder & Chrisler,
1996; Lowes & Tiggemann, 2003). The girls also displayed considerable understanding
of the potential social consequences of weight, both negative in terms of teasing about
overweight, and positive in terms of increased popularity and likeability for being thin.
 Peer influences on body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness 113

The finding that year level was the only unique predictor of dieting awareness replicates
Lowes and Tiggemann (2003) finding for age, and is consistent with their suggestion that
an understanding of dieting is part of the normal learning for children (both girls and
boys) in our society. The positive correlations obtained between awareness of teasing
and likeability with dieting awareness suggests that these may also form part of this
package that our children normally acquire.
The contribution of the present study, however, lies in its exploration of peer
influences on the emergence of body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness in young
girls. This exploration was based on the assumption that school in general, and peers in
particular, are an important source of influence for children in the 5 – 7 year age range.
The findings for awareness of teasing and likeability are consistent with results with
adolescent and pre-adolescent samples linking both teasing and likeability to dieting
behaviours (Lieberman et al., 2001; Oliver & Thelen, 1996). However, in contrast to
previous studies with older populations, here neither peer discussions nor peer
acceptance were related to body dissatisfaction or dieting awareness. In fact, the girls
reported engaging in very little discussion with their friends about the way their bodies
looked. However, it needs to be noted that this was assessed by only a very simple,
single-item measure. The finding for peer acceptance is most likely a function of our
assessment of perceived peer acceptance by self-report, rather than by some more
objective sociometric measure (e.g. Paxton et al., 1999).
The major novel finding of the present study was the significant relationship
between girls’ perception of their peers’ body dissatisfaction and their own level of body
dissatisfaction. Further, peer body dissatisfaction emerged as the strongest predictor of
own body dissatisfaction in the regression analysis. This highlights the role of peers and
is consistent with demonstrations of shared peer norms of thinness among adolescent
girls (Levine et al., 1994; Lieberman et al., 2001; Paxton et al., 1999). Although we
assessed perceptions of norms, these perceptions were shown to be accurate, especially
for Year 2 girls. Exactly how young girls come to share these norms for body shape is not
clear. Despite the fact that they reported relatively little specific discussion about body
shape, there are many other potential opportunities for the peer transmission of ideals
about appearance, for example, through comments when trying on clothes or about
pop stars when watching television.
Although the present study highlights the role of peer influences among junior
primary school girls, several methodological limitations need to be acknowledged. First,
the sample was not representative, but one of convenience, with all girls attending
single-sex private schools of middle to upper socio-economic status. Second, because
we did not wish to ask leading or disturbing questions of such young participants, our
measures assessed primarily awareness, rather than actual experience, of dieting or
teasing. Allied to this, the measures were very simple, with some consisting of only
single items (e.g. peer discussions), and others compromised by the story in which they
were set (e.g. likeability). Thus we were probably limited in our ability to find stronger
results. Future researchers might take up the challenge of developing more complex and
psychometrically rigorous measures for use with young children, while at the same time
accessing actual experience of teasing or other hurtful behaviours in ways that are
positive for the child. Third, because the study employed a cross-sectional correlational
design, direct causal conclusions cannot be drawn. For example, although we have
concluded that young girls’ body dissatisfaction is influenced by their peers’ body
dissatisfaction, it is possible that the reverse relationship holds, and that girls’ ratings of
their peers reflect an egocentric bias. Alternatively, a third variable (e.g. media
114 Hayley K. Dohnt and Marika Tiggemann

exposure) may be responsible for the relationship. Longitudinal research is required to

disentangle causality and to rule out the possibility of age cohort differences. Finally, it
must be remembered that although we have argued that peer influences are important
and have been somewhat neglected in this age group, clearly young girls are subject to a
variety of other influences not assessed here.
Despite its limitations, however, the present study has made an important start in
investigating peer influences in young children and has contributed to the small
literature on body image in this age group. The increasing evidence for body
dissatisfaction and dieting awareness in junior primary school girls has important social
implications. Potential negative effects on children’s developing self-esteem and
psychological functioning, as well as the possibility of the later development of eating
disorders (Ricciardelli & McCabe, 2001; Smolak & Levine, 2001), make it vital that
further research should more precisely identify the antecedents of body dissatisfaction
and dieting awareness in young children. These have profound implications for the
nature and timing of prevention and intervention programmes. The finding that a
substantial number of young girls have absorbed societal beliefs about the ideal body
shape and its social consequences suggests that to be truly preventative, programmes
need to be initiated at junior primary school age, possibly as early as at school entry. In
general, Smolak and Levine suggest that the ‘thinness schema’ underlying eating
problems is less consolidated and therefore more susceptible to intervention in children
than in adolescents or adults. The present results suggest that classroom programmes
might usefully target the influence of peers in educating children about weight-related
issues. It may be possible for such programmes to utilize peer influence and offer peer
intervention, as recommended by Paxton (1996). Additional programmes might also be
targeted at the school teachers who teach young children.
In summary, it seems that girls develop a desire to be thinner during the early years of
schooling, somewhere around 6 –7 years of age. They also display an awareness of the
definition and concept of what constitutes dieting. Importantly, this study offers
preliminary evidence of peer influences in this development. If confirmed by further
research, this knowledge has implications for the implementation of early prevention
and intervention programmes that recognize the role and salience of peer influences in
the formation of body dissatisfaction and dieting awareness.

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Received 20 March 2003; revised version received 23 January 2004