Factors influencing preschool-age children's acceptance of models presented as overweight

To investigate whether preschool-age children's ratings of an overweight model were influenced by perceptions of responsibility for weight, type of play activity (i.e., running or cards), and information (i.e., positive or neutral).

A total of 152 children (74 boys), aged 3 to 6 years, were randomly assigned to watch two videotapes; one presented information about the model (positive or neutral) and one depicted the model engaged in an activity (running or playing cards).

Children who blamed models for being overweight provided lower acceptance ratings than those who did not. Ratings provided by children who blamed models were influenced by information and activity condition. This was not true for children who did not blame the models.

Results were marked by complexity, indicating that the interplay of perceptions of responsibility and contextual cues influenced ratings. In the future, researchers should consider other variables that might interact with perceptions of responsibility to influence children's perceptions of peers who are overweight.