The vast majority of Irish teenage girls believe it is important to be slim to attract the attention of boys and achieve more self-confidence, a new study has found, writes Alison Healy.
The study of 400 girls, aged between 14 and 16, found that 80 per cent believed they needed to be thin to attract the opposite sex. Almost three quarters of the girls surveyed said they were unhappy with their body shape.
The research was conducted throughout the State by University of Ulster doctoral student Elaine Mooney. She found that 46 per cent of girls saw themselves as being fat when in fact they were not overweight. Just under half those surveyed said they had dieted to lose weight and 38 per cent were on a diet at the time of the survey. Ms Mooney, a home economics lecturer at St Angela's College, Sligo, outlined her findings at a University of Ulster conference on consumer science research at Jordanstown, Co Antrim, yesterday.
She said that attracting the opposite sex was a recurrent theme in the research. "Boys featured highly and they really believe that if you want to get a boy you must look thin. They believe it is all based on appearance first and then personality."
When Ms Mooney asked the teenagers for examples of beautiful people, they pointed to celebrities such as Britney Spears, Posh Spice, Christina Aguilera and Beyoncé.
"A typical comment was that if Britney Spears was fat, no one would buy her CDs," Ms Mooney said. "They would say things like, if Jennifer Aniston is on the Atkins diet then it must be good because she is thin. Or Posh Spice is really thin and she is very successful and is married to a famous footballer."
She said that the teenagers appeared to be heavily influenced by crash diets offered by magazines and were happy to skip meals and avoid staple foods in a bid to lose weight quickly.
Consumer sciences lecturer Dr Chris Strugnell, who supervised the research, expressed alarm at the findings.
"These results are a real concern," he told the conference. "This is an important time in the life of adolescent girls and they are not only indulging in poor food choices and practices but, more worryingly, are missing important and essential nutrients at this point in their lives."
Ms Mooney said the findings strengthened the case for making home economics a compulsory subject for all teenagers. "It is one subject that is particularly relevant because it teaches about the importance of nutrition and also gives the practical cookery skills."
Meanwhile, the Irish Business and Employers Confederation's nutrition and health foundation has urged parents to pay close attention to their children's exercise and eating habits during the summer break.