Emily A. Iobst

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

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether preschool-age childrens 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). METHODS 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). RESULTS 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. CONCLUSIONS 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 childrens perceptions of peers who are overweight.

Children's acceptance of a peer who is overweight: relations among gender, age and blame for weight status.

Objective:To examine the role of blame as a mediator of the relationships between perceiver age and gender and childrens acceptance of an overweight peer.Design:Cross-sectional study of childrens perceptions of their overweight peers using structural equation modeling.Participants:Two hundred and ninety-one children between the ages of 3 and 11 years.Measurements:Children viewed a videotape of a same-sex peer, dressed to appear overweight, interacting with an adult. After viewing the videotape, children responded to items assessing their perceptions of the childs social and emotional traits and how much the child was to blame for being overweight.Results:Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the traits loaded on a single factor, acceptance. Results of analyses for our structural equation model indicated that as blame increased, acceptance of the peer decreased. The relationships between gender and blame and gender and acceptance were not significant. Children were categorized into three age groups (3–4, 5–8 and 9–11 years) to examine the influence of age. Children between 5 and 8 years of age were less likely to blame the model compared with younger and older children.Conclusion:Preschoolers reported the lowest acceptance, indicating a need for intervention for children in this age range. Furthermore, it will be important to conduct longitudinal studies to determine the influence of interventions as the child passes through different developmental stages.