Self-Acceptance and Grooming as It Relates to Body Image, Research Paper Example

It is normal for girls to have an increased interest in the way they look as they enter the preteen years. They focus not only on their own attention but on the appearances of their peer group as well as others they are around. Seemingly overnight they start noticing when someone’s shirt is wrinkled, a parent’s hair is not brushed or a friend has begun gaining weight. There are also changes taking place in their bodies as they approach then go through puberty which affects their moods and the way they view their bodies and their sense of self acceptance (Cash, 2008). Much of this can be traced to environmental influences such as messages they are receiving from family members, the media or special activities coaches if they participate in a sport such as gymnastics.  Girls in our society have a great deal of pressure to look a certain way to fit in with their peers or meet the expectation of family or coaches.

With the increased focus in obesity in children in the country young girls are being carefully watch and constantly surrounded with messages telling them that being overweight doesn’t just lead to a less than ideal appearance but can seriously harm their health even before they become adults.  The more physical changes that occur and the greater the degree of change, the more self-conscious young girls become about their appearance.  These changes usually affect their relationships in some way since girls are more socially focused than boys are, and when they are feeling a lack of self-acceptance about the way they look or fear they don’t look like their peers, this effects their willingness to engage in interpersonal interactions whether play, school or activity related.  The loss of social support effects their mood which effects how they view their appearance and their self-acceptance to an even greater degreed.

Body image strongly effects overall self-acceptance.  In preteen girls it is one of the most important influences on their self-acceptance.  The effects of changes in the body and how a girl views them effect strongly affect her self-image and ultimately self- acceptance. Girls tend to keep things inside, which are why they are referred to as internalizers, while boys are more likely to show their difficulties externally through behavior problems (Cash, 2008). Thus, when girls begin having problems in the preteen years they are less likely than boys to share that with anyone. They are at an age when they have transitioned from their parents, primarily their mother being their most important social outlet to their friends being their social outlet and girls are concerned with how their peers view them.  However, as other girls similarly internalize feeling and thoughts, they have to decide how to act with peers largely through non-verbal cues.

Appearance alone sends nonverbal messages to other children who make interpretations of what the child is like based on how they look.  The nonverbal feedback from peers may be mis-interpreted however, by a girl who already is self-conscious about her appearance and uncertainty can turn into decreased self-image, poor body image and an increase in loss of self-acceptance (Cash, 2008). This may occur as a direct result of what she is thinking and may not necessarily be based on the correct conclusions regarding what her peers are truly thinking.

This is an important point since self-image and self-acceptance in young girls is largely influenced and determined by her own thoughts, feelings and concerns about her appearance and body coupled with her interpretations and beliefs about what others think about her.  This may be very different from what others truly believe about her.  Thus, we are often our own worst enemy even in childhood.  Children come to assume negative beliefs about the way others feel and think about them, internalize these negative reactions whether they are correct or incorrect at which point they turn them into self-beliefs which effects their overall self-concept.  What in reality may be just a small amount of excess fat that occurs as the onset of puberty approaches may be perceived by a girl as being fat.  She will look closely for peer reactions to her physical change and since she is so focused on it she will interpret one or more friends as also thinking she is fat.  This will grow until the belief “I am fat,” becomes, “I am fat and all my friends know it,” to I am fat and no one want to be my friend.”  Throughout this process self-concept will become increasingly more negative.

Grooming practices also play a large role in the development of body image.  During the preteen years, girls often suddenly develop a self-grooming regimen that may seem excessive or outlandish.  If they have not had a model to observe in regards to self grooming they may try a hit or miss strategy using the folk lore passed through their peers which are not reliable self- grooming tips.  Even girls who have had the opportunity to observe a role model using a complete and effective self-grooming routine may try to mimic something that isn’t appropriate for her age.  Grooming practices clearly effect body image.  When young girls don’t understand what needs to be done to appear well groomed and experience peer feedback which may feel like rejection their body image will suffer.  Instead of understanding that grooming consists of behaviors which can be changes with a bit of instruction, they feel as if they have done everything they could but it is having no effect on how they look.  When they aren’t aware of alternative grooming options they may give up on grooming and do just the bare minimum since in their perception, nothing can improve the way they look anyway.

Developing a healthy body image happens over time. It can be influenced by experiences and shaped by the opinions and feedback of others and by cultural messages.  These all effect how a young girl views her body, goes about developing a series of grooming practices to enhance her appearance and minimize what she sees as unattractive characteristics and ultimately her degree of self-acceptance.  If she feels that peers, family and society doesn’t accept her based on the way she looks, she will have great difficult developing her own positive sense of self-acceptance.  Parents can play an important role in this process by learning what types of messages verbal or otherwise can help their child learn to accept who she is no matter how she believes she looks or the degree to which her looks fit in with models observed in society and through the media.  Helping her develop a healthy grooming regimen will also help and parent child trips to a make-up counter, nice clothing store or other type of positive shopping arena can be a fun filled outing for parent and child alike.  It can also make your daughter feel special and as if her striving to appear attractive doesn’t make her stand out but makes her one of the girls.

Excessive grooming as part of a preoccupation with appearance can become so severe that it can prevent a preteen from maintaining attention in school since they feel a drive to look in the mirror to continue working on how they look.  Sometimes even in the absence of a mirror, self-grooming habits will surface in the form of using fingers to comb through hair, biting lips to make them look more pink or pinching cheeks in the absence of blush.  Some preadolescent girls can experience such difficulties struggling with their body image that they develop Body Dysmorphic Disorder, a psychological body image disorder that predisposes children and adults to become overwhelmed with an imagined or small flaw in perceived appearance.  There is effective treatment for Body Dysmorphic Disorder so parents can take their child to a mental health care provider feeling reassured that there is something that can be done to help.

Reference

Cash, T. F. (2008). The body image workbook. Oakand, CA: New Harbinger Publications.

Cash, T. F. (2008). Body Image Workbook: An 8-step Program For Learning To Like Your Looks 2^nd Ed.  Oakand, CA: New Harbinger Publications.