SELF-ESTEEM, PARENTAL APPRAISAL AND BODY-SIZE IN CHILDREN

This study investigates the influence of body size, parental appraisal of body size, and children's beliefs about parental appraisal, on sel f-esteem in children from 9 to 11 years old. Parents' and children's r esponses to a matched question about body size suggest that children a re accurate predictors of parental evaluation and that their self-este em scores are influenced both by actual parental dissatisfaction and b eliefs about parental dissatisfaction. For boys, lower self-esteem is associated both with thinness and being perceived as too thin. For gir ls, lower self-esteem is more associated with fatness.