Thin is good, fat is bad: How early does it begin?

The existence of negative attitudes toward overweight body builds is demonstrated in two groups of preschool children aged 3 to 5 years (ns = 30 and 83), using four different measures of body size stigmatism. Although this stigmatism was stronger in the older children, it was clearly present in the 3 year olds. There was little support for the position that stigmatism would be greater for outgroup members. Rather, the cultural stereotype that 'fat is bad' was pervasive across gender, regardless of the child's own body build. In fact, overweight preschoolers demonstrated stronger stigmatism than did those who were not overweight. The findings suggest that efforts to counteract body size stigmatism should begin in the early preschool years.