Reflections in the Mirror: Body Image + Adolescent Girls

Let’s face it, American culture is obsessed with image. How many images of “beauty” do you see in a day? In magazines, on web ads, on the side of a bus, during a television commercial, in a movie…we can’t avoid it. What we can do though is help our adolescent girls navigate their way through our world of rail thin models and billion dollar dieting industries.

Adolescence is a time that psychologist G. Stanley Hall called a time of “storm and stress”. It’s important as a parent of an adolescent girl to remember that she’s still growing and changing, experiencing great deals of new stresses and challenges. While she’s still a child, she’s encountering a very grown up world. We’re seeing girls starting diets as early as age 7 (!) and 47% of girls between 5th and 12th grade report wanting to lose weight. A study conducted by “Focus on Youth”, the Canadian Council on Social Development, reported that while 72% of girls said ‘they had confidence in themselves’ at grade six, this rate plummeted to 55% by grade ten. Most adolescent girls say they are dissatisfied with their bodies. Low self-esteem, a lack of social support, and pressure to lose weight all increase negative body image which can often lead to eating disorders. But research also shows that teens who observed healthy eating and exercising patterns in their parents were more likely to engage in healthy behaviors themselves. Health and confidence can be contagious!

Adolescents are influenced by many layers, if you will, of people, experiences, and social institutions. Urie Bronfenbrenner, a developmental psychologist, called this experience with the world the Ecological Theory of Development. Remember that your daughter is influenced by society and our cultural values, but also by her friends and most importantly, by you. As a parent, you may not think that your daughter cares much what you think, but trust me, she listening to and watching you. You can be a buffer to the harsh world she lives in. Take a long hard look in the mirror and consider what image it is that you’re reflecting to your daughter. You can show her what being and living healthy looks like. You can spend time with her, letting her know that she is valuable. Invest in your daughter as if she were the most valuable asset you’ve ever had, because she is.