Weather
Girls hate the way the look and it gets worse as they get older! (From Bournemouth Echo)
When news happens text pix and video to 80360. Start your message with BE then leave a space.
Girls hate the way the look and it gets worse as they get older!
9:00am Wednesday 27th January 2010
GIRLS as young as ten-years-old are worried about their looks – almost twice the number of boys – and tend to become more dissatisfied with their appearance as they get older, a major new study reveals today.
Research for the Children’s Society into nearly 7,000 ten to 15-year-olds showed 17.5 per cent are unhappy with their looks peaking at 28 per cent amongst girls (more than one in four) of 14 to 15-year-olds.
But local health experts say the real surprise is that the figures are not even higher.
Ciaran Newell, a consultant nurse in eating disorders based at St Ann’s Hospital in Poole, said our obsession with body image was a “toxic” aspect of modern life.
“We live in a society where image and how you look are regarded as the most important aspects of who you are. Everything is promoted or advertised along the lines of how you look.
“It’s no surprise that there is currently such an upsurge in cosmetic surgery. The belief is that we can solve all our problems by tweaking our bodies.
“This obsession creates an environment for a small percentage of vulnerable people whereby extreme dieting is seen as a way of making them feel better about themselves.
“One of the ways to counter balance this is to help our young people realise that appearance is not a central issue. Other elements such as being a good friend, or a good daughter, being good at sport or being academic says more about a person than the clothes they wear.”
Andrew Hill, professor of medical psychology, who also has a special interest in eating disorders and body image, agreed.
He said: “We live in a highly visual culture that not only evaluates people by what they look like but mirrors this on TV by making judgements about minor celebrities’ appearance rather than their true higher value qualities.
“We live in a very superficial culture where appearance is absolutely everything in politics just as in pop music - every time you are in public you are under public scrutiny.”
The study found that although both boys and girls tend to become unhappier as they get older, the gap in well-being between the sexes increased with age.
Girls also registered lower levels of overall happiness than boys.
By contrast, young black African, Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladeshi children were “significantly” happier with their appearance than white children.
l The report also found that children’s happiness is more influenced by family conflict that by factors such as living in a single parent household.
The study found that around 300,000 children aged between ten and 15 are “significantly” unhappy with family rows a major cause of dissatisfaction with life.
Children who report their family “gets along well together” are on average around 20 per cent happier than those who do not regardless of whether they have a lone parent or a step families.
Chief executive of the Children’s Society Bob Reitemeier said: “This ground-breaking study is a major step forward in our efforts to understand and enhance the well-being of young people.
“This report is a stark reminder that our actions as adults can have a profound impact on our children’s well-being and the importance of listening to what children are telling us.”
More Your health stories
Girls are twice as likely as boys to be worried about their looks
Local Advertisers
Local Information
Enter your postcode, town or place name
