DEVELOPMENTAL-CHANGES IN CHILDRENS BODY IMAGES

Three psychophysical methods were used to assess the accuracy of body size estimations in 216 male and female children age 6, 9, or 12. A TV -video procedure was used to project life-size images of the child's b ody. Overall, children were accurate in estimating their body sizes wi th no significant differences between genders, age groups, or ethnic g roups. Older children were more accurate in detecting distortions in t heir body sizes. The idealized body size becomes thinner as children b ecome older especially in young people. Young people also have an incr easing discrepancy between perceived and ideal size with progressing a ge. Body esteem and childhood teasing were related to both children's judgments of their ideal sizes and body dissatisfaction in addition, c oncerns parents have about their children's body sizes were related to the child's expressed ideal size and to the response bias children ha ve to report that their bodies are distorted Too large. The status of parents' occupations and parents' educational attainment were not a si gnificant predictor of children's body size estimations.