When we think about body image, we often think about adolescence. These are the years most people associate with girls becoming increasingly aware of their appearance, comparing themselves to others, and feeling pressure to look a certain way.
But research suggests these concerns can begin much earlier than we might expect.
In a study of children ages five to eight, Lowes and Tiggemann (2003) found that girls ages six to eight reported significantly greater body dissatisfaction than younger children, often expressing a preference for a thinner body. Similarly, Dohnt and Tiggemann (2006) found that girls as young as six were already expressing a desire to be thinner and demonstrating awareness of dieting as a way to lose weight.
By the time girls reach adolescence, they’ve already spent years absorbing messages about how their bodies are supposed to look.
And those messages don't come from just one place.
Not surprisingly, research has identified peers, family members, and media as influences on the development of weight concerns and body dissatisfaction among children and adolescents (Field et al., 2001). As girls become increasingly aware of social expectations surrounding appearance, those expectations can begin to influence how they see and evaluate themselves.
This matters because late childhood is also a time when girls are developing important beliefs about who they are, what they're capable of, and how they fit into the world, beliefs that carry over into adolescence and even adulthood.
What Happens When Appearance Becomes the Focus?
As girls move toward adolescence, physical changes, social comparison, and growing sensitivity to peer evaluation can make their relationships with their bodies more complicated.
Research by Davison and colleagues (2007), which followed girls from ages 11 to 13, found that earlier physical maturation was associated with lower self-worth, greater dissatisfaction with body changes, and reduced enjoyment of physical activity. That reduced enjoyment, in turn, predicted lower levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.
In another study, adolescent girls described withdrawing from sports because of concerns about their appearance, discomfort with uniforms, teasing, and worries about how others perceived them (Slater & Tiggemann, 2010).
These findings reveal something important. The way girls feel about their bodies can influence more than how they see themselves in the mirror. It can also shape how comfortable they feel participating in activities, trying new things, and engaging with the world around them.
Research showing body dissatisfaction in much younger girls raises an important question. What if we helped girls develop a different way of appreciating their bodies before appearance became such a central part of how they evaluated themselves?
Shifting the Conversation From Appearance to Appreciation
One way to approach this is to help girls recognize their bodies for what they make possible. Instead of focusing only on how a body looks, we can invite girls to consider what their bodies help them do and experience.
Our bodies allow us to move, play, explore, create, heal, connect with others, and experience the world around us. They also provide information about how we're feeling and what we might need.
This shift doesn't require girls to love every part of their appearance or feel positively about their bodies all the time. Instead, it gives them the chance to recognize that their bodies have value beyond how they look.
I intentionally incorporated this distinction into My Book of Me.
In the program's second session, What My Body Helps Me Do, girls explore the many ways their bodies support their daily lives. Through guided reflection, movement, and mindfulness activities, they're encouraged to think about their bodies in terms of function, capability, and self-care rather than appearance.
The goal isn't to tell girls how they should feel about their bodies. It's to create space for them to notice and appreciate aspects of their physical experience they may not have considered before.
What Does the Research Tell Us?
Research suggests that supportive environments and approaches that strengthen self-worth can play an important role in their relationships with their bodies. For example, the New Moves intervention studied by Neumark-Sztainer and colleagues (2010) combined physical education, nutrition education, self-empowerment activities, social support, and individualized counseling for adolescent girls.
Although the intervention did not produce significant changes in body fat percentage or BMI, participants reported improvements in body satisfaction, perceived athletic competence, and self-worth, along with reductions in sedentary behavior and unhealthy weight-control practices.
The study did not isolate body appreciation as a specific intervention, so it cannot tell us whether focusing on what the body can do would produce those same outcomes. What it does suggest is that approaches that address girls' psychological and social experiences, rather than focusing solely on physical outcomes, can support meaningful improvements in how they relate to themselves and their health.
This is consistent with a broader principle of positive psychology. Supporting well-being involves more than trying to reduce negative experiences. It also means helping people develop internal resources such as self-acceptance, autonomy, and a sense of competence.
How Can We Encourage Body Appreciation in Everyday Life?
We can begin by becoming more intentional about the conversations we have with girls about their bodies. Instead of drawing attention primarily to appearance, we can create opportunities for them to notice what their bodies allow them to experience.
That might mean asking a girl what activities make her feel capable or what she appreciates about the ways her body helps her throughout the day.
It can also mean making room for conversations about physical comfort, emotions, and self-care, helping girls recognize that their bodies are something to listen to and care for, not simply something to evaluate.
These conversations don't need to be complicated. And they don't require girls to arrive at a particular answer. The point is to give them opportunities to develop a broader understanding of their bodies and their relationship to them.
Before the World Gets Louder
Girls are growing up surrounded by messages about what their bodies should look like, how they should behave, and how they compare to others. We may not be able to eliminate those messages, but we can help girls develop ways of understanding themselves that aren't entirely dependent on them.
Body appreciation is one part of that work. When we help girls recognize their bodies for what they allow them to do and experience, we're inviting them to see themselves through a wider lens.
And it seems that's a conversation worth starting long before adolescence.
References
Davison, K. K., Werder, J. L., Trost, S. G., Baker, B. L., & Birch, L. L. (2007). Why are early maturing girls less active? Links between pubertal development, psychological well-being, and physical activity among girls at ages 11 and 13. Social Science & Medicine, 64(12), 2391–2404.
Dohnt, H. K., & Tiggemann, M. (2006). Body image concerns in young girls: The role of peers and media prior to adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35(2), 135–145.
Field, A. E., Camargo, C. A., Taylor, C. B., Berkey, C. S., Roberts, S. B., & Colditz, G. A. (2001). Peer, parent, and media influences on the development of weight concerns and frequent dieting among preadolescent and adolescent girls and boys. Pediatrics, 107(1), 54–60.
Lowes, J., & Tiggemann, M. (2003). Body dissatisfaction, dieting awareness and the impact of parental influence in young children. British Journal of Health Psychology, 8(2), 135–147.
Neumark-Sztainer, D. R., et al. (2010). New Moves—Preventing weight-related problems in adolescent girls. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 39(5), 421–432.
Slater, A., & Tiggemann, M. (2010). “Uncool to do sport”: A focus group study of adolescent girls' reasons for withdrawing from physical activity. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 11(6), 619–626.