Etiology of body dissatisfaction and weight concerns among 5-year-old girls

Among adolescent girls and women, higher weight status is associated with g reater body dissatisfaction and weight concerns. This study investigated th e etiology of body dissatisfaction and weight concerns among 5-year-old gir ls by assessing associations among girls' and parents' weight status, body dissatisfaction, and weight concerns. Weight status, body dissatisfaction, and weight concerns were assessed for 197 5-year-old girls and their parent s, and relationships among these variables were investigated using multiple regression in the form of path analysis. For girls and parents, higher wei ght status was associated with greater body dissatisfaction, which in turn was associated with higher weight concerns. No direct relationship was foun d between girls' weight status and girls' weight concerns. Girls' body diss atisfaction and mothers' weight concerns, however, were independently and p ositively associated with higher weight concerns among girls. In conclusion , relationships among weight status, body dissatisfaction, and weight conce rns for 5-year-old girls parallel those reported among adults. In addition, results suggest that the etiology of weight concerns in young girls may be linked to girls' subjective evaluations of their weight status (body dissa tisfaction) in combination with weight concerns expressed by their mothers. (C) 2000 Academic Press.