Poster #99 - Sibling Factors that Influence Child Body Image Satisfaction During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Poster Session 02

Abstract

Children’s body image satisfaction is shaped by sociocultural factors that include the family environment (Paxton, & Damiano, 2017). Despite our growing understanding of parental factors that contribute to the development of children’s body image, to date, little research has explored the influence of siblings. Given that these relationships are the longest and hold characteristics of both parent and peer relationships, it stands to reason that siblings may play an essential role in one’s development of body image. Other factors such as siblings’ weight-related teasing, age and gender also seem to influence body image satisfaction (Berge et al., 2016). In addition, the well-being of children and families has faced numerous challenges since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (Feinberg et al., 2021). Factors such as financial insecurity, the caregiving burden, and confinement-related stress may interfere with the family climate, which has in turn been linked to higher levels of sibling perpetrated verbal and physical aggression (Prime et al., 2020). Therefore, we must understand how sibling factors impact child development, especially during the pandemic, as the development of negative body image in one child is related to those of their siblings (McHale et al., 2001).

Therefore, the current study investigated the effects of siblings’ age, gender, and perpetrated weight-related teasing, and whether siblings influenced one another on their body image satisfaction at two time points during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample consisted of two cohorts of participants totalling 60 sibling dyads aged between 7 and 12 (female=14, male=19, mixed gender=27; Mage=9.22). Parents completed online questionnaires on their children’s body image satisfaction and siblings’ weight-related teasing at two time points, five months apart. A distinguishable (based on age) Actor Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) revealed that for both younger (B=.50, SE=.10, p<.001) and older siblings (B=.53, SE=.09, p<.001), body image remained stable over time. Additionally, the older sibling’s body image satisfaction marginally influenced younger sibling’s body image over time (B=.21, SE=.12, p=.08) but not the reverse, in dyads that included at least one girl. In dyads other than male-male, lower body image satisfaction in the older sibling at the first time point predicted worse body image satisfaction for the younger sibling at the second time point. Results also revealed that weight-related teasing perpetrated by older siblings impacted the younger sibling’s body image over time (B=.33, SE=.10, p<.001). Concretely, the younger sibling had worse body image satisfaction at Time 2 if they had experienced weight-based teasing perpetrated by the older sibling. Given that negative body image can result in low school engagement and negative eating patterns, understanding siblings' influence on body image development in children is imperative, especially during a pandemic.

Authors

• Elizabeth St. John, University of Ottawa
  Presenting Author

• Philip MacGregor, University of Ottawa

• Fanny-Alexandra Guimond, University of Ottawa