July 28, 2015
According to a recent study that followed more than 6,000 children through to their early teenage years, body image issues reportedly begin as early as age 8.
The study - which was conducted in the U.K., although comparable studies in the U.S. have reported similar findings - two in five young girls said they were dieting by the age of 14.
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Although young girls were more susceptible to experiencing distorted thinking in terms of body image, young boys were also victims of distorted body image.
Three percent of young boys in the study reported feeling dissatisfied with their bodies by age 8, compared to five percent of girls the same age.
In addition, 12 percent of boys were dieting by age 14.
Many point blame at society and social media for pressuring young and vulnerable populations to conform to certain beauty standards.
A recent CNN article featured 19-year-old Juliana Lyons of California who created a music video to fight back against her battles with body image and inspire others to do the same.
"People are growing up now with these ideas of how they should look," Lyons reported to CNN. "It's setting us up to fail because we're not perfect. We're not Photoshopped in real life."
Read the full study here.
