Body Build Stereotypes in Three-, Four-, and Five-Year-old Children

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine i~ a group of three-, four-, and five-year-old children exhibited the stereotypes relating to the mesomorphic, endomorphic, and ectomorphic body builds that have been found consistently among older subjects. The older subjects judged the endo morph and ectomorph to be less favorable than the mesomorph and professed a desire to look like the mesomorph. Children over an age span of 43.9 months to 64.7 months were tested to determine if the stereotypes were present and, if found to be present, to determine at what age they appeared. All subjects were enrolled in a preschool: seventy-five were in a University of North Carolina at Greensboro center~ the remaining fifteen were in a local; church-sponsored program. An instrument was devised to judge the presence of the stereotypes. A checklist of age-appropriate adjectives was compiled, similar to checklists found in the literature relating to identification of body build stereotypes. Also included as a part of the instrument were stimulus drawings of the three body builds--endomorph, ectomorph, and meso morpho Children were asked to assign each item from the adjective checklist to one of the three stimulus drawings. Each subject was asked to select the body build that he perceived himself to look like. -{ A one-way chi-square analysis was used to determine if anyone adjective was attributed more often to a particular body build than to any other. A chi-square an~lysis was used as well to determine if a larger number of subjects correctly identified their own body builds than did not. There appeared to be no support for all age groups for the hypotheses that the endomorphic and ectomorphic body builds would be assigned unfavorable adjectives, while the mesomorphic body build would be assigned the more favorable adjectives. It was concluded that the three-, four-, and five-year old children in this study did not- exhibit body build stereo types consistent with the literature. The five-year-olds did show some evidence of body build stereotypes but not to an extent that would allow for the acceptance of the hypotheses. A larger number of five-year-olds correctly identified their own body builds, but again not enough to allow for acceptance of the hypothesis.