Harrison, S, Rowlinson, M and Hill, AJ (2016) "No fat friend of mine": Young children's responses to overweight and disability. Body Image, 18. pp. 65-73. ISSN 1740-1445
Abstract
Two studies investigated 4- to 6-year-old children’s weight bias. In Study 1, 126 children read illustrated books where a main character (‘Alfie’) was healthy weight, in a wheelchair, or overweight. In Study 2, 150 children read the same stories where the character was female (‘Alfina’), or stories where her friends were fat. Children rated ‘Alfie’/’Alfina’ and a comparison character on nine attributes/behaviours, and chose one that best represented each attribute. Fat and wheelchair ‘Alfie’/’Alfina’ were rated less likely to win a race, and fat ‘Alfie’/’Alfina’ as having fewer friends. When forced to choose between characters, fat ‘Alfie’/’Alfina’ was rejected on most constructs. Children’s gender, self-perceived shape, and character’s friends’ size had no effect on judgements. These findings show children’s preferences away from fatness rather than outright rejection, and mostly clearly in friendship choices. Understanding young children’s weight bias is important given their increasing involvement in obesity surveillance, prevention, and management.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Body Image. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Weight bias; Anti-fat attitudes; Stereotyping; Children; Disability; Social rejection |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Health Sciences (Leeds) > Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 27 May 2016 11:22 |
Last Modified: | 18 Jan 2023 14:46 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.05.002 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.05.002 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:100252 |