Young children's figural selections: accuracy of reporting and body size dissatisfaction.

OBJECTIVE

The present study aimed to investigate children's accuracy of reporting body size and gender differences in body size dissatisfaction among preadolescent Australian children.

METHOD: In an Australian partial replication of Dowdney, Woodward, Pickles, and Skuse (International Journal of Eating Disorders, 5, 29-40, 1995), children between 5 and 10 years of age (N = 195) made current and ideal figure choices using the Body Image Perception and Attitude Scale for Children (BIPAS-C), a nonsequentially ordered linear figural scale.

RESULTS

The results are consistent with accurate identification of their body size by Australian children at all the age levels. The girls, irrespective of age, preferred smaller ideal than current shapes and expressed greater body size dissatisfaction than did the boys.

DISCUSSION: The results are consistent with the body dissatisfaction found in adolescent and adult women and with those found in preadolescent children in the United States, Britain, and Israel.