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Pre-school children's attitudes to fat and normal male and female stimulus figures
J D Turnbull1, S Heaslip, H A McLeod
1Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh, UK. jturnbull@qmuc.ac.uk
Objective:
To investigate gender differences in attitudes to obesity in pre-school children.
Design:
Evaluation of gender differences in judgements of stimulus figures varying in body shape and gender.
Subjects:
Twenty-five children aged 2-5 y, 12 boys and 13 girls.
Measures:
Forced-choice ascriptions of personal, social and behavioural traits to normal and obese male and female dolls.
Results:
Children ascribed more negative characteristics than positive ones to fat figures than to normal figures, and more to fat female than to fat male figures.
Conclusion:
Children can demonstrate prejudiced behaviour towards obesity at earlier ages than previously thought.