BODY BUILD IDENTIFICATION, PREFERENCE, AND AVERSION IN CHILDREN

Presented 24 male and 21 female white middle-class kindergarten children, 5.3-6.2 yr. of age, with same-sex photographs of chubby, average, and thin peers. Ss were asked to choose the pictures which they most resembled, would most want to look like, and would least like to look like; they were also asked to indicate same-sexed classmates who most looked like each stimulus picture. A significant proportion identified their own and their peers' body builds correctly, although the majority did not. Females were better at matching body builds than were males. Although no particular body build preference was shown by the majority, a consistent aversion to chubbiness was expressed by 86%. Results are discussed with respect to current theories of the etiology of characteristic traits associated with different somatotypes. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.