ONE in four young Scots say body worries have stopped them taking part in sport and one in five have felt “ashamed” of the way they look, a poll has found.
In research for the Mental Health Foundation Scotland (MHF Scotland), one in seven Scots aged 10-19 said they had skipped meals or restricted their diet to improve their body image.
Around one in 10 said they had missed school or college because of feelings about their physique.
Meanwhile, as many as one third said social media images had made them worry about they way the look, and one in seven had edited photos of themselves to change their appearance.
The findings, based on a poll of 400 young people, are released today as Mental Health Awareness Week continues, and follow earlier work by the charity which found that one third of adults aged 18-24 have felt anxious over the way they look, with a quarter experiencing disgust or shame over the past year as a result.
Titled “Body Image: How we think and feel about our bodies”, the new paper “highlights the range of commercial and advertising pressures which are contributing to mental health for thousands of young people”, and calls for urgent measures across all aspects of society to safeguard the health of teenagers as they grow up.
Julie Cameron of MHF Scotland said: “Our poll has uncovered that hundreds of thousands of young people across Scotland are struggling with concerns about their body image.
“Worries about body image can lead to mental health problems and in some instances are linked to self-harm and suicidal thoughts and feelings. It is also clear from the survey that teenagers are identifying images on social media as a key factor that makes them worry about their body image. Conversations with friends also have a major role in causing young people to worry.”
Mental Health Minister Clare Haughey will outline the full remit of a new expert group aimed at tackling the issue today.
Haughey will visit Girlguiding Scotland members in Edinburgh to hear their thoughts and experiences.
It is understood that the Scottish Government group will develop a Charter on Healthy Body Image for young people, define what positive body image means and develop options for how professionals can support healthy body image, including in schools.
Calling for measures to deal with advertising imagery and more, Cameron says new materials are needed to help teachers and other professionals working with children to counteract harmful ideas about appearance.
She said: “Action starts in our families and homes with how we talk about our bodies and eating, but we also need more regulation of advertising which promotes idealised and unattainable body images. Social media companies should urgently up their game in taking practical steps to ensure that the content they promote does not exacerbate body-image concerns.”
“We’re delighted that the Scottish Government has responded promptly to our report. We welcome the announcement of an expert group and the development of a charter on achieving a healthy and positive body image. We hope that the new group will lead to the creation of useful resources for teachers and other frontline professionals and help to raise awareness about the impact of body image on our mental health.”
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