Young children's figural selections: accuracy of reporting and body size dissatisfaction.
OBJECTIVE
The present study aimed to investigate children's accuracy of reporting body size and gender differences in body size dissatisfaction among preadolescent Australian children.


METHODS
In an Australian partial replication of Dowdney, Woodward, Pickles, and Skuse (International Journal of Eating Disorders, 5, 29-40, 1995), children between 5 and 10 years of age (N = 195) made current and ideal figure choices using the Body Image Perception and Attitude Scale for Children (BIPAS-C), a nonsequentially ordered linear figural scale.


RESULTS
The results are consistent with accurate identification of their body size by Australian children at all the age levels. The girls, irrespective of age, preferred smaller ideal than current shapes and expressed greater body size dissatisfaction than did the boys.


CONCLUSIONS
The results are consistent with the body dissatisfaction found in adolescent and adult women and with those found in preadolescent children in the United States, Britain, and Israel.
Williamson
S
S
School of Psychology, The University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
Delin
C
C
D001824:Body Constitution; D001828:Body Image; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013021:South Australia