Girls' peers may exert most pressure to be thin

Peers play a greater role in teen girls' dissatisfaction with their bodies than television or social media, a new study suggests.

The research on 237 Hispanic girls aged 10 to 17 in the United States asked them questions such as how they felt about their bodies and whether they had any eating disorder symptoms. Other questions probed their overall satisfaction with their lives, and whether they felt inferior to other girls.

They were also asked about social media use and their three favorite television shows and to rate the attractiveness of the female actresses in those shows.

Overall, neither television images of thin "ideal" women nor social media use predicted body dissatisfaction, but peer competition did, researchers Christopher Ferguson and colleagues at Texas A&M University found.

The study was published online Jan. 24 in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

-- HealthDay