The primary aim was to examine the effects of a physical activity and nutrition intervention on Body Dissatisfaction, Drive for Thinness, and Weight Concerns in pre-adolescents. Eighty-four 10–12 years old were studied as part of a larger trial of a family-based physical activity and nutrition intervention. Forty-nine children participated in the 8-week intervention (35 in control group) and completed Body Dissatisfaction, Drive for Thinness, and Weight Concerns measures at baseline and post-test. Participants in both groups showed positive but non-significant changes in body image and Drive for Thinness following the trial, but there were no significant between group differences. This was the first study to examine the effects of a physical activity and nutrition intervention on body image and related variables in pre-adolescents. Body Dissatisfaction, Drive for Thinness, and Weight Concerns were not positively or negatively influenced by the intervention.
Children as young as 6 have expressed body dissatisfaction and weight concerns (Davison, Markey, & Birch, 2000; Kater, Rohwer, & Levine, 2000; Smolak & Levine, 1994) which appears to increase with age (Mellin, Irwin, & Scully, 1992). Body dissatisfaction may be well established by 12 years old in both females and males, and although common, it is not always benign (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999). A concern about body image disturbance in children is that it appears to be a risk factor for the later development of eating disorders (Koff & Rierdan, 1991). Even in children, body image disturbance predicts weight control techniques such as unhealthy dieting and compulsive exercising (Shisslak et al., 1998; Stice, Cameron, Killen, Hayward, & Taylor, 2000). Dieting poses unique physical health risks in youth due to their physical development needs (Kirkley & Burge, 1989; Pugliese, Lifshitz, Grad, Fort, & Marks-Katz, 1983) as well as problems in psychosocial functioning (Hill & Pallin, 1998; Stice, Hayward, Cameron, Killen, & Taylor, 2000b).
Many studies report a significant inverse relationship between physical activity and body image dissatisfaction. Both prospective (Fisher & Thompson, 1994; Williams & Cash, 2001) and physical activity intervention studies (Koff & Bauman, 1997; Ossip-Klein et al., 1989) have documented positive effects on body image. Most of the studies have been in college age or adult women in aerobic, walking, or strength training conditions. Positive effects were also found in males following a 16-week weight-training program (Tucker, 1987).
