The Relationship between Maternal Attitudes towards Obese and Body Image with the Attitudes of Their Children

Predrasude su neprijateljski ili negativni stavovi prema pripadnicima prepoznatljive grupe koji se zasnivaju isključivo na njihovu članstvu u toj grupi. Posljedično, predrasude dovode do stigmatizacije, što ostavlja psihičke i fizičke posljedice na pojedinca. Tjelesni je izgled atribut na koji društvo stavlja sve veći naglasak, te se učestalost predrasuda i diskriminacije prema pretilima povećava. Iako se predrasude javljaju već kod vrtićke djece, način njihova usvajanja nije sasvim istražen. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati na koji su način majčini stavovi i nezadovoljstvo vlastitim tjelesnim izgledom povezani sa stavovima njihove djece, starosti od 5 do 7 godina. Ispitano je ukupno 100 parova djece i majki. Kod majki su ispitani negativni stavovi prema pretilim osobama, percepcija tjelesnog izgleda slikovnim podražajima, te izbjegavajuća ponašanja vezana uz sliku tijela, dok je kod djece pomoću slikovnih podražaja ispitana preferencija prema različitoj tjelesnoj težini (mršava, normalna tjelesna težina ili pretila). Prema dobivenim rezultatima, djeca biraju siluetu normalne tjelesne težine kao najpoželjniju, osim prilikom odabira silueta djevojčica, gdje se u jednakom broju slučajeva biraju i mršava i silueta djevojčice normalne tjelesne težine. Također, preferencija biranja kod djece nije povezana niti s majčinim indeksom tjelesne mase, negativnim stavovima prema pretilima, te izbjegavajućim ponašanjima vezanim uz sliku tijela.Prejudices are hostile or negative attitudes towards members of identifiable groups based solely on their membership in that group. Consequently, prejudices lead to stigmatization, which leaves physical and psychological consequences on the individual. Physical appearance is an attribute that society puts on a growing emphasis, and the frequency of prejudice and discrimination against the obese is increasing. Prejudices occur already in pre-school children, but the way they are learning them is not yet clear. The objective of this study was to determine how mother's attitudes and dissatisfaction with their body image are associated with the attitudes of their children who are 5 to 7 years old. A total of 100 pairs of mothers and children particiated in the study. Mothers were questioned for negative attitudes towards obese people, the perception of their body image through silhouettes, and avoiding behaviors related to the body image, while for the children we used silhouettes to examine preferences for different body weights (thin, normal weight or overweight). The results showed that children chose the silhouette with normal body weight as the preferred one, except when the girls where choosing, where they equally selected the thin silhouette and the silhouette with normal body weight. It was also shown that the preference of choosing in children has almost no relationship with the body mass index, the avoiding behaviors related to body image and negative attitudes towards obese in their mothers