Evolution of preschool girls’ beauty standards over the recent 10 years: findings of the experimental longitudinal study
<p><strong>Context and Relevance<em>. </em></strong>Body dissatisfaction is a risk factor for the development of eating disorders, which has also been found over the recent decades among children and adolescents. In turn, eating disorders are associated with...
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Moscow State University of Psychology and Education
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Культурно-историческая психология |
| Online Access: | https://psyjournals.ru/en/journals/chp/archive/2025_n2/Shalygina_Kholmogorova |
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| author | O.V. Shalygina A.B. Kholmogorova |
| author_facet | O.V. Shalygina A.B. Kholmogorova |
| author_sort | O.V. Shalygina |
| collection | DOAJ |
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<p><strong>Context and Relevance<em>. </em></strong>Body dissatisfaction is a risk factor for the development of eating disorders, which has also been found over the recent decades among children and adolescents. In turn, eating disorders are associated with an increasing psychological ill-being, and namely, low self-esteem, anxiety and depression. The body positivity social movement has been expanding recently countering thinness standards imposed by Western culture, while raising experts’ concerns about the normalization of obesity. <strong>Objective. </strong>The aim was to investigate how the representation of the female beauty standard has evolved among preschool girls. <strong>Hypothesis. </strong>Despite some changes in the propagated female beauty standards that have been occurring in mass culture over the recent decade, girls still prefer dolls with ultra-thin bodies. Dolls act as role models, with their appearance forming the basis for girls’ perceptions of attractiveness. <strong>Methods and materials. </strong>The article presents the findings of a "Doll Choice" experiment, replicated 10 years after the original one, which involved 30 girls aged 4 to 8 years. <strong>Results. </strong>Similar to their peers from a decade ago, contemporary girls continue to prefer ultra-thin dolls (fashion dolls) that embody the values of consumer society, wherein the body and overall appearance are regarded as objects subject to manipulation with the aim of enhancement and presentation to others. At the same time, a doll with a regular physique of a 5-6-years-old girl evoked negative emotions and was rejected. The girls paid more attention to the design of appearance than we had previously observed. <strong>Conclusions. </strong>The current generation of children finds itself in an unfavorable social environment for development, under the influence of pathogenic consumer society values, which are risk factors for the development of mental disorders and emotional maladjustment. This situation necessitates the development and implementation of specialized educational programs for parents to prevent mental ill-being in children and adolescents.</p> |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-59634fc2960f4bb295121f9c416157ac |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1816-5435 2224-8935 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Moscow State University of Psychology and Education |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Культурно-историческая психология |
| spelling | doaj-art-59634fc2960f4bb295121f9c416157ac2025-08-20T02:46:29ZengMoscow State University of Psychology and EducationКультурно-историческая психология1816-54352224-89352025-06-01212617210.17759/chp.2025210206Evolution of preschool girls’ beauty standards over the recent 10 years: findings of the experimental longitudinal studyO.V. Shalygina0https://orcid.org/0009-0005-0601-0490A.B. Kholmogorova1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5194-0199European GymnasiumMoscow State University of Psychology & Education <p><strong>Context and Relevance<em>. </em></strong>Body dissatisfaction is a risk factor for the development of eating disorders, which has also been found over the recent decades among children and adolescents. In turn, eating disorders are associated with an increasing psychological ill-being, and namely, low self-esteem, anxiety and depression. The body positivity social movement has been expanding recently countering thinness standards imposed by Western culture, while raising experts’ concerns about the normalization of obesity. <strong>Objective. </strong>The aim was to investigate how the representation of the female beauty standard has evolved among preschool girls. <strong>Hypothesis. </strong>Despite some changes in the propagated female beauty standards that have been occurring in mass culture over the recent decade, girls still prefer dolls with ultra-thin bodies. Dolls act as role models, with their appearance forming the basis for girls’ perceptions of attractiveness. <strong>Methods and materials. </strong>The article presents the findings of a "Doll Choice" experiment, replicated 10 years after the original one, which involved 30 girls aged 4 to 8 years. <strong>Results. </strong>Similar to their peers from a decade ago, contemporary girls continue to prefer ultra-thin dolls (fashion dolls) that embody the values of consumer society, wherein the body and overall appearance are regarded as objects subject to manipulation with the aim of enhancement and presentation to others. At the same time, a doll with a regular physique of a 5-6-years-old girl evoked negative emotions and was rejected. The girls paid more attention to the design of appearance than we had previously observed. <strong>Conclusions. </strong>The current generation of children finds itself in an unfavorable social environment for development, under the influence of pathogenic consumer society values, which are risk factors for the development of mental disorders and emotional maladjustment. This situation necessitates the development and implementation of specialized educational programs for parents to prevent mental ill-being in children and adolescents.</p>https://psyjournals.ru/en/journals/chp/archive/2025_n2/Shalygina_Kholmogorova |
| spellingShingle | O.V. Shalygina A.B. Kholmogorova Evolution of preschool girls’ beauty standards over the recent 10 years: findings of the experimental longitudinal study Культурно-историческая психология |
| title | Evolution of preschool girls’ beauty standards over the recent 10 years: findings of the experimental longitudinal study |
| title_full | Evolution of preschool girls’ beauty standards over the recent 10 years: findings of the experimental longitudinal study |
| title_fullStr | Evolution of preschool girls’ beauty standards over the recent 10 years: findings of the experimental longitudinal study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evolution of preschool girls’ beauty standards over the recent 10 years: findings of the experimental longitudinal study |
| title_short | Evolution of preschool girls’ beauty standards over the recent 10 years: findings of the experimental longitudinal study |
| title_sort | evolution of preschool girls beauty standards over the recent 10 years findings of the experimental longitudinal study |
| url | https://psyjournals.ru/en/journals/chp/archive/2025_n2/Shalygina_Kholmogorova |
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