Dyadic Predictors of Child Body Shame in a Polish and Italian Sample

Kamila Czepczor-Bernat, Justyna Modrzejewska, Adriana Modrzejewska, Emanuela Calandri, Silvia Gattino and Chiara Rollero
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Kamila Czepczor-Bernat: Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, 50-527 Wroclaw, Poland
Justyna Modrzejewska: Institute of Pedagogy, University of Bielsko-Biala, 43-309 Bielsko-Biala, Poland
Adriana Modrzejewska: Department of Psychology, School of Health Sciences in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, 40-055 Katowice, Poland
Emanuela Calandri: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10124 Torino, Italy
Silvia Gattino: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10124 Torino, Italy
Chiara Rollero: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10124 Torino, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 14, 1-12

Abstract: The present study aimed at assessing the predictors (related to the functioning of a parent-child dyad) of child body shame. Therefore, in the main analysis we examined relationships among child body shame, child perfectionism, child body dissatisfaction, parent body shame, parent perfectionism, and parent body dissatisfaction. In our main hypothesis we assumed that higher levels of the abovementioned parent functioning-related variables would be associated with higher child body shame after accounting for the effects of the foregoing child functioning-related variables. The analysis finally included complete data from 420 participants, i.e., a 115 Polish and 95 Italian parent-child dyad. Participants completed: (a) child: the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale for Youth, the Child-Adolescent Perfectionism Scale, the Children’s Body Image Scale/the Figure Rating Scale; (b) parent: the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale, the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, and the Contour Drawing Rating Scale. The results of a correlational analysis show that in both the Polish and Italian samples, the higher the level of child body shame, the higher the level of the following variables: child perfectionism, child body dissatisfaction, parent perfectionism, and parent body dissatisfaction. Interestingly, the only insignificant relationship in both samples is the association between body shame in both members of the child-parent dyad. Moreover, all steps of the regressions were significant in both Polish and Italian samples. It turned out that only in the Italian sample were all predictors significantly associated with a child’s body shame (in the Polish sample there was no significant association between child’s body shame and parent’s perfectionism). To sum up, the above studies show the importance of considering the functioning of the parent-child dyad in understanding child body shame. These findings suggest that parents’ attitudes toward their bodies and their beliefs about an ideal self should be taken into account when planning interventions to improve children’s and adolescents’ attitudes toward their bodies. This is so because it is possible for children to internalize their parents’ beliefs about how to look and how critical one should be of themselves, which can result in strong body shame when they are not perfect enough against the internalized ideal. Therefore, it is also necessary to make parents aware that children’s attitude toward their body is often a reflection of parents’ attitude toward the body.

Keywords: child body shame; perfectionism; body dissatisfaction; parent-child dyad; Poland; Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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