Weight Worries May Start Early for Slim Women
There is a range of reasons1 why thin women think they’re too heavy, but the distorted body image may often have its roots in childhood, the results of a new study suggest.
Researchers found that among more than 2,400 thin women they surveyed, nearly 10 percent thought they were too heavy. ____1 ____
According to the study authors, led by Dr. Susanne Kruger Kjaer of the Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, society’s "ideal" female body is moving toward an underweight physique. ____2 ____
To investigate body image among thin women, the researchers gave questionnaires to 2,443 women ages 27 to 38 whose body mass index2 was at the low end of normal3. ____3 ____
Overall, almost 10 percent of the women thought they were too heavy. Those who reported certain "severe life events" in childhood or adolescence, such as having a parent become ill or having their educational hopes dashed, were more likely than others to have a distorted body image. ____4 ____
In contrast, traumatic events in adulthood, such as serious illness or significant marital problems, were not related to poor body image, the researchers report. ____5 ____