Body Image, Self Esteem and Poor Grades

By Tara Messier

Teenagers today are growing up in a time of rapid cultural change. Some issues facing teens have remained constant throughout generations while others have not. Teens are still concerned with passing a test on Thursday, making the sports team or having a date for the spring formal. However, today they also need to fit into society’s increasingly narrow idea of beauty.

Teenagers are exposed to more television and magazine advertisements than any other generation. The images of the men and women in these advertisements represent an unobtainable ideal. According to popular media, “real men” are tall and strong while “real women” are thin and beautiful.

Advertisers would have us believe that being muscular or beautiful is linked with success and happiness. From movies, television and magazines, teens are learning that happiness comes from beauty and success from physical strength. As a result, teens worry about how they are seen by their peers. They wonder “Am I thin enough?” or “Am I man enough?”

Adolescent girls and boys are responding to an increased pressure to look a certain way. In a 1991 study, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) found that only 29 percent of girls and 49 percent of boys in high school felt “happy the way I am” in relation to how their bodies looked. These numbers reflect a significant drop from those reported by elementary school children. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 90 percent of persons with eating disorders are women and girls.

Girls and women feel enormous pressure to obtain an unrealistic ideal of beauty and perfection and often resort to frequent dieting and obsessive exercise as a result. Obsession around dieting has been linked to emotional responses in girls, such as increased levels of stress and anxiety. In several studies, depression in adolescent girls has been linked to negative feelings about body image. Self-worth has been associated with feelings about the attractiveness of one’s body.

The AAUW found that possessing a negative body image increased the risk that an adolescent girl would commit suicide. A desire to be thin also increases the likelihood that adolescent girls will smoke cigarettes. One in four girls who smoke report that they do so as a way to curb appetite. Some girls may smoke to decrease hunger from skipped meals. Adolescent girls often give fear of weight gain as a reason for not quitting smoking.

And what about boys? Although boys are less likely to be diagnosed with eating disorders, boys are beginning to report and demonstrate concerns over body image. This increase seems to reflect the attitude of adult men.

Half of the men in a recent study conducted by researchers at Harvard and Brown universities reported thinking about their appearance frequently and expressed an unwillingness to accept a promotion if it meant a disruption in their workout schedule. High school boys are also concerned with being strong and muscular. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2.9 percent of 12th-graders report use of steroids to increase body muscle mass.

Concern with their physical appearance can lead to lower self-esteem, poor grades in school and social withdrawal. Boys may become increasingly violent and physically combative as a way to demonstrate strength.

Some studies have linked the increase in youth violence with an increase in a need for boys to be strong and powerful. Participation in violence may be a way for boys to demonstrate power and strength. Girls who are concerned about appearance tend to withdraw from social situations if they feel physically inadequate, that is, not pretty enough.

How can we help our own children?
Parents can influence how teens feel about their bodies. Teenagers whose parents are critical of their bodies have a more negative body image than those whose parents compliment and accept them. An adolescent boy who gets the idea from his father that he needs to be muscular to be a man is more likely to use steroids or obsess over weightlifting to build muscle than if he were to grow up in a family where manhood was defined in other ways.

Girls who are encouraged to love and accept their bodies as they are are less likely to feel badly about their appearance than girls who live in families where body image is important. Teens whose families support a healthy body image are less likely to develop obsessions with image and eating disorders.

Here are some ways to encourage a healthy body image in your teen:

• Explore how you feel about shape and weight. Parents with unresolved issues around their own shape and weight may be passing negative issues on to their kids.

• Watch how you verbalize negative feelings about your own body in front of your teenager and be aware of your efforts to change your appearance. What does your constant dieting tell your teenage daughter about her own weight?

• Help your teen challenge popular media images. Begin conversations about the muscular boys and thin girls seen in movies and on TV. Teach your teen to think critically about what is considered normal by advertisers and producers. Find ways to help them fight by writing letters to companies and buying products from responsible companies.

• Teach healthy eating and exercise rather than dieting. Begin to teach children at a young age to eat only when they are hungry and to stop eating when they are full. Encourage a balanced diet. Find a physical activity that your family can do together, such as taking a family walk. Teach that exercise is about feeling good in your body rather than losing weight.

• Keep communication open. Since food is often tied to comfort, teens may overeat as a result of feelings of inadequacy, sadness or stress. Ask your adolescent about feelings and really listen to their answers.

• Help your teen understand biology. Some boys will never grow up to be tall and many girls will not be rail-thin. Teach your teen that biology dictates basic body structure and size. Help your teen feel good about the size of his body by finding ways to capitalize on body stature. A boy who is picked on for being short may find esteem in volunteering with younger children who look up to him.

• Encourage teens to pursue hobbies and activities of interest. Adolescents who are active in music or the school newspaper will be less likely to spend time obsessing about their looks. Help teens to link self-worth with accomplishments rather than appearance.

• Compliment your teen. Acknowledge their successes and pay attention to their lives.

• Encourage sports. A healthy attitude about sports and physical activities can increase the likelihood that your teen will have a positive body image. Pay attention to the attitudes that leaders and coaches of sports and activities have about diet, exercise and body image. Discourage teens from joining teams where the coach or leader puts too much emphasis on weight and diet.
Growing up is tough. Parents can be influential in the way a young person feels about her or his body. By spending time with your teenager and being open to them, parents can have an enormous impact on the self-esteem and body image of their adolescent.

Good Reads for Ages 13 to 18:
The Best Little Girl in the World. Steven Levonkron. Contemporary Books, Incorporated, 1985.
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. Chris Crutcher. HarperCollins Children’s Book Group, 1993.
Nell’s Quilt. Susan Terris. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, LLC, 1996.

Good Web sites on Body Image
Ages 13-18:
www.about-face.org
www.extrahip.com
www.teenvoices.com

For Parents:
www.aabainc.org
www.edap.org
www.melpomene.org
www.cswd.org
www.radiancemagazine.com