Self-concept and perceptions of attractiveness and body size among Mexican-American mothers and daughters

The socialization of physical attractiveness stereotypes and its relationship to self-concept among parent/child dyads has not been previously examined. This study examined the relationship between mothers' and daughters' judgements of body size and the impact of size on subjects' judgements of attractiveness. Mexican-American mothers and their 7-12-year-old daughters completed attractiveness ratings of five figures of girls varying in body size and indicated which of these figures were closest to the perceived and ideal sizes of the daughter. One-half of the mothers were obese and had participated in a behavioral weight loss program, while the other half served as normal weight controls. Self-concept measures were also completed by all subjects. Daughters tended to prefer a thinner figure than did mothers. The control mothers indicated almost no preference for body size, with nearly uniform rankings for obese, normal and thin figures. The daughters ranked their own ideal figures as thinner than their perceived figures, but mothers' rankings of their daughters' ideal and actual sizes were congruent. Daughter's overall self-concept was predicted by age, their own size and their mother's size. Control but not intervention mothers' self-concept was negatively correlated with their size.