Body Image Perception and Preferences in Metro-Detroit 5th Graders

Obesity has been on the rise globally for the past years, and has also caused numerous health (e.g., heart disease, diabetes) and psychological (e.g., low self image) problems. With the increase of obesity, even children have started to believe that those individuals who are obese are “lazy”, and for this reason, they less frequently choose to play with their obese peers or include them in activities. Prior research did not focus on ethnicity due to insufficient statistical power. For our research, we believe that there will be cultural differences in body perception and tolerance for obese friends. Our research will be a survey of over 500 fifth-grade students of both genders to determine the correlation between ethnicity, perception/preference of body image, and body mass index (BMI). The collected data will be analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). We predict that with the change in time and generations, the fifth-graders will show more tolerance for their obese peers. They will choose to include them in activities, rather than to not include them as friends. We also expect to find ethnicity to be correlated with body perception and tolerance for obese friends. Thus, with the high prevalence rate of obesity, we anticipate finding a decreased prejudice for obese children possibly due to acculturation of seeing other children who are overweight.