Fathers affecting daughters' esteem
Friday, April 6, 2007
FATHERS are important influences on their daughters' perceptions of their weight and shape during childhood, and can increase their risk of developing an eating disorder in adolescence.
Fathers should avoid criticising their daughters' weight and build up their daughters' confidence by emphasising other positive attributes, says Dr W Stewart Agras, who led the research on the subject.
In an effort to throw light on what factors during childhood contribute to weight concerns and thin body preoccupation, Agras and colleagues from Stanford University in California followed 68 girls and 66 boys from birth to age 11 and their parents.
Annual questionnaires beginning at age two assessed parents' concerns about their children's weight and eating habits as well as their own weight.
The results show, Agras says, that fathers are important in influencing their daughters toward bulimia, particularly fathers who are overweight and want to be thinner. These influences may be direct, such as criticising the daughters' weight or shape, or indirect, by expressing their own concerns about weight and shape.
Parents who exhibit concern or criticism about their daughters' weight and shape and who push their daughter toward dieting may increase the risk of their daughter developing bulimia, adds Agras.
The study also found that parental behaviours such as over-control of what their child eats, together with parent and peer pressure to be thin, also raises the risk of eating disorders. More importantly, the study shows that all these influences occur before adolescence.
Concerns about weight and shape emerge as early as age eight, Agras and his colleagues point out in Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Therefore, it may be that prevention programmes for eating disorders should begin early in childhood and perhaps should include education for the parents, they add.
Summing up, Agras says: Children learn by observing their parents. Hence, weight control behaviours, such as dieting and expressed concerns about weight, should not form an important aspect of family life. It is more important to develop positive healthy family lifestyles. Reuters
Fathers should avoid criticising their daughters' weight and build up their daughters' confidence by emphasising other positive attributes, says Dr W Stewart Agras, who led the research on the subject.
In an effort to throw light on what factors during childhood contribute to weight concerns and thin body preoccupation, Agras and colleagues from Stanford University in California followed 68 girls and 66 boys from birth to age 11 and their parents.
Annual questionnaires beginning at age two assessed parents' concerns about their children's weight and eating habits as well as their own weight.
The results show, Agras says, that fathers are important in influencing their daughters toward bulimia, particularly fathers who are overweight and want to be thinner. These influences may be direct, such as criticising the daughters' weight or shape, or indirect, by expressing their own concerns about weight and shape.
Parents who exhibit concern or criticism about their daughters' weight and shape and who push their daughter toward dieting may increase the risk of their daughter developing bulimia, adds Agras.
The study also found that parental behaviours such as over-control of what their child eats, together with parent and peer pressure to be thin, also raises the risk of eating disorders. More importantly, the study shows that all these influences occur before adolescence.
Concerns about weight and shape emerge as early as age eight, Agras and his colleagues point out in Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Therefore, it may be that prevention programmes for eating disorders should begin early in childhood and perhaps should include education for the parents, they add.
Summing up, Agras says: Children learn by observing their parents. Hence, weight control behaviours, such as dieting and expressed concerns about weight, should not form an important aspect of family life. It is more important to develop positive healthy family lifestyles. Reuters
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