With girls as young as eight admitting they feel pressurised to look good, a body image expert talks to Lisa Salmon about body confidence issues in young people
PARANOIA about appearance in adolescence is sadly not a new or uncommon problem, but it is one that is now pulling ever younger children into its self-conscious grip.
Recent research, by the Dove Self-Esteem Project (DSEP), found that seven per cent of girls felt under pressure to look beautiful when they were as young as eight. This figure continues rising steadily up to 27 per cent by the time they are 11, by this stage even forcing them to opt out of everyday activities like swimming or speaking up in class.
Body image expert Professor Andrew Hill says the fact that society has become increasingly image-based, with constant access to visual media, exacerbates the problem. "You can certainly pick up this apparent lack of self-confidence in children as young as nine and 10," he says. "Nowadays, we often tell others about our lives not through words but through pictures via phones and computers, and there's a vast array of magazines featuring celebrities, with pictures telling a very clear story about the acceptability and unacceptability of physical appearance."
Possibly as a result of unrealistic perceptions about the way girls should look, the DSEP research found 47 per cent of 11 to 14-year-old girls admitted opting out of what should be 'normal' teenage activities because they don't like how they look. The survey of 500 girls found that lack of body confidence meant 34 per cent had missed swimming, 32 per cent had avoided performing in a school play, 28 per cent avoided dancing, and 23 per cent wouldn't put their hand up in class.
Such a pronounced effect on these girls' lives is clearly very worrying, but Prof Hill, a medical psychology professor, does point out this reticence about being noticed has always been an issue for young people. Though the age it starts is getting lower in modern times, the basic feelings behind it are the same as ever before. "I think it's been around for a long time," he says. "Teenagers, particularly those in their early teens, are generally quite shy, and while we talk about it and recognise it more it's very difficult to find statistics which indicate the lack of self-confidence levels have increased."
In a bid to help young girls tackle their self-confidence issues, DSEP has teamed up with Girlguiding, which has introduced a body confidence badge that Guides can work towards.
Girlguiding chief executive Julie Bentley says: "Self-esteem in young girls is a huge issue that's impacting on the quality of young girls' lives. "Through the creation of this badge, we're hoping to help girls realise their full potential and feel better about their bodies and the way they look."
While adolescent girls may have deeper body confidence issues than their male counterparts, there's no doubt that adolescent boys have image worries too, Prof Hill says. "I don't think the lack of body confidence is as intense for boys, but the same issues are there for them. "Boys tend to be valued for the things they do, like sport, and girls are often valued on the way they look."
He points out that during puberty boys grow taller and more muscular - an appearance valued by society - while girls grow curvier, which they will often perceive as fatter and not the way society wants them to look. Younger girls are now even anticipating these body changes, Prof Hill explains, as they're learning from the way older children behave. Most of girls' ways of coping with any distress caused by their body image, or indeed any other worries, are directed inwardly, says Prof Hill, through depression and anxiety, trying to control their emotional state through controlling eating, and self-harm.
Boys who have body image or other problems, on the other hand, tend to act out their distress, possibly through destruction, violence, taking substances or getting drunk, Prof Hill says. "It's a different way of dealing with distress. "Girls tend to talk to each other, boys and men do not. But if girls talk to their friends about problems like body image, it can also leave them vulnerable, as girls' friendships during adolescence are particularly brittle and there can sometimes be bullying."
But for young people experiencing body image problems, and the parents who are witnessing their children's angst, Prof Hill reassures: "For many kids it's not something they'll grow out of but they will grow through it. "Their physical changes occur at different ages, and for parents it's a matter of helping them get through it."
He says parents using their own experience isn't always helpful, because young people lead very different lives these days and might not want to talk about appearance issues to a mum or dad who cannot understand the pressures of being a teenager of the 'Facebook generation'. They may appreciate discussing their problems with someone more neutral though, perhaps a younger member of the family or a close friend. "The key thing for parents, though, is to give unconditional love," Prof Hill stresses. "It really doesn't matter what children look like, you're there to be their constant love and support."