Babies pick up anti-fat prejudice from moms

Moms, take note! Your child may pick up on your prejudice against obese people at an age as young as three years old, according to a new study.

Researchers suggest that children begin to reflect the attitudes of those around them much earlier than thought. “Anti-fat prejudice is associated with social isolation, depression, psychiatric symptoms, low self-esteem and poor body image,” said Ted Ruffman professor at University of Otago’s department of psychology in New Zealand.

Previous research had indicated anti-fat prejudice could be seen in pre-school children aged slightly more than three-and-a-half years old and was well-established in five- to ten- year-olds. But the research by Ruffman and his team suggests these attitudes have an even earlier genesis. The team showed 70 infants and toddlers pairs of photos of people, one in which the person was obese, the other where the person was in a normal weight range. Their faces were covered to put the focus on the body type. At the same time they used questionnaires to gauge the mother’s attitude to obesity.

“What we found is that younger infants, around 11 months of age, preferred to look at obese figures, whereas the older ones, around 32 months old, preferred to look at average-sized figures,” said Ruffman.