Mothers' and Fathers' Perceptions of Their Adolescent Daughters' Shape, Weight, and Body Esteem: Are They Accurate?

Examined parents' awareness of their daughters' attitudes, beliefs, and feelings about their bodies. Sixty-six adolescent daughters completed an eating disorder scale, a body figure rating scale, and made ratings of their shape and weight. Greater discrepancies between parents' estimates of daughters' body esteem and daughters' self-reported body esteem were associated with greater body dissatisfaction in daughters. (SLD)