Body and dieting concerns of pre-adolescent South African girl children

Abstract

The topic of body image has become widely researched in the past thirty years, but preadolescents have been neglected in this area of research. This dissertation explores the body and dieting concerns of pre-adolescent girls in South Africa in order to address this paucity. A qualitative study was conducted, with data collected via a vignette technique and a semi-structured interview which were analysed thematically. A contradiction was noted between what girls expressed to be true in terms of the importance of appearance and how they perceive those that do not adhere to cultural norms of appearance. Weight and appearance were described as unimportant when evaluating a person, but negative attributes were given to the heavier girl in the vignette, opposed to none to the thinner girl. Appearance-control beliefs also emerged as a salient theme, with participants believing that the heavier girl in the vignette could not help that she was overweight. The latter was interpreted as pity, and masked as empathy, as participants suggested ways in which she could lose weight, and it was expressed that she would be a happier person if she did lose weight. Dieting was a well-known concept among participants, with some stating that they had previously engaged in dieting behaviours.