Parents’ Influence on Body Image Is More Important Than You Think
Body image is an important factor in developing eating disorders, and parents are more concerned about providing a positive model for their kids than ever. Body image is a personal phenomenon that nevertheless is affected by outside factors like media and peers. However, according to a study in USA Today, body image in teenagers isn’t most heavily influenced by the factors you might assume. Although Hollywood, TV, and social media all have some influence on a teenager’s body image, the closest to home are more important.
The primary influencer of teen body image are their parents, in most cases, the same-sex parent offers the most influence. It makes complete sense. Our parents are our role models, caregivers, heroes, and teachers, all combined in one person. Here are several reasons parents’ influence on a child’s body image is more important than you might think.
Children Copy What They See Their Parents Do and Say
The foundation of a person’s adult body image begins to form well before adulthood – usually, this foundation is beginning to be set even before adolescence begins.For example, little girls do a lot of things like their moms do, especially if they spend a lot of time with their mom. And little boys also tend to copy their father’s actions and attitudes. This can take on added significance if Mom or Dad expresses or displays negative or critical attitudes about weight or body size. That might lead to developing body image distortions in a young child.
Dieting and Other Fatphobic Activities Are Easy to Mimic
When a parent is outwardly concerned about losing weight and dieting or has a noticeably poor body image, these obsessions and food-restrictive behaviors are often copied by their children. It often doesn’t stop in childhood, however. It’s a cycle that begins in childhood but can carry all the way into adulthood. Even more distressing is the fact that most eating disorder treatment professionals consider a distorted body image and frequent dieting to be prime triggers for eating disorders.
Eating Disorders Have a Genetic Dimension
Although eating disorders can stem from a variety of causative factors, like socioeconomic status and the presence of other mental health disorders,several studies have shown that there is a genetic factor as well. One of these studies estimated that children of parents with an eating disorder developed anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa at a rate of 7 to 12 times higher than children whose parents did not have one of those disorders.
This means that of the many possible causes of eating disorders, the presence of an eating disorder in the parents is a major one. On the other hand, it’s important to remember that having a parent with an eating disorder is not a guarantee that an adolescent will be subject to the same fate. The overall rate of eating disorders is about 1% of the general population. That’s a significant number, being roughly 3 million people in the US, but many of those parents will not pass an eating disorder on to their children.
Consider the Message About Body Image You Send Your Children
The roles of parents in their children’s attitudes about their bodies encompass both sides of the “nature vs. nurture” debate.Parents, both fathers, and mothers, with or without eating disorders, should be focused on encouraging positive body image in their kids as well as a healthy attitude about food and eating. They should make sure their kids enjoy a variety of food and aren't restricting calories or certain food groups in order to lose weight. Remember, kids, copy what their parents do a child that sees Mommy or Daddy enjoying a healthy relationship with eating and a nutritional food intake will be more likely to do the same.
To the same end, parents should also advance body acceptance and the idea of HAES (Healthy At Every Size), a growing movement that attempts to avoid fatphobia. Criticizing their own weight or that of others can have a ripple effect that parents can’t predict – sometimes resulting in the development of an eating disorder.
Finally, if you’re a parent and you’re worried that your kid is developing an eating disorder, don’t panic - and don’t punish! Treatment is available, and it benefits from gentle, non-judgmental conversations about the problem rather than coming down on the child. Reach out to your physician or psychologist and get ready for the next steps to recovery.