Early years organisation PACEY is asking all those who look after children aged two to ten years to take part.
The results will be published later in the summer.
It is hoped they will help determine at what age children can start showing signs of concern about their body and where professionals believes this stems from. The questions also ask for details on how any anxiety around this can affect children’s emotional and mental wellbeing.
Guidance on how to help positive attitudes to body image will accompany the results.
Liz Bayram, chief executive of PACEY, said, ‘PACEY knows that anxieties about body image at a young age can have a huge impact in adulthood. We are working with Be Real (The Campaign for Body Confidence) to highlight the importance of the early years in establishing the foundations of body confidence – and that this isn’t simply an issue that affects older children.
‘This research is vital for us to be able to investigate the extent to which children are showing signs of anxiety about their bodies at a younger age; understand where these anxieties stem from; and how the emotional and mental wellbeing of children is affected by negative feelings about body shape and size. Our aim is to use the findings of this survey to raise awareness of the key issues affecting young children. We want to do all we can to support childcare professionals in helping children develop positive attitudes to body image from an early age.’
- To take part in the short survey visit https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PACEYbodyconfidence
