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Family's weight comments cause girls lasting harm

Girls whose families criticize their weight or eating habits may develop lasting problems with body image and self-esteem, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that of 455 college women with poor body image, more than 80 percent said their parents or siblings had made negative comments about their bodies during childhood.

Many believed the comments reflected a general lack of love and support or were even part of a pattern of emotional abuse -- with some saying family members also called them "ugly," "stupid" or "lazy."

But in more cases than not, the women said their parents or siblings had only occasionally made comments about their weight and body shape.

"The data suggest that even a few comments may have a negative impact," the study authors report in the journal Pediatrics.

"In fact, in otherwise or generally supportive families, a few negative comments may have a particularly detrimental impact, because they stand out against patterns of little or no criticism," write the researchers, led by Dr. C. Barr Taylor of Stanford Medical Center in California.

Parents, they say, need to be aware that their words can have lasting effects on how their daughters feel about themselves.

All of the women in the study were part of a larger project looking at eating disorder prevention; they were considered to be at high risk based on their excessive worries about their weight, shape and eating habits. At the start of the study, they all completed a battery of surveys, including ones that asked about hurtful comments during childhood and current levels of self-esteem.

Most of the women said that family members had made some negative remarks about their bodies. Based on their reports, more than half of mothers had made such comments, as had roughly 40 percent of fathers and 40 percent of brothers and sisters.

Women whose parents had said these things showed relatively lower self-esteem and felt a lack of support from their families.

According to Taylor and colleagues, parents who are worried about their daughter's weight and health need to find ways to give "constructive advice" about healthy eating and exercise without being critical.

It's also important for parents to lead by example, following a balanced diet, getting regular exercise and refraining from criticizing their own bodies, according to the researchers. Stanford University has a pamphlet with advice for parents that can be downloaded from http://bml.stanford.edu/mcknight.

SOURCE: Pediatrics, August 2006.