When Parents Go Shopping: Perspectives on Gender-Typed Toys among Polish Mothers and Fathers from Big Cities

The impact of parents' physical activity goals and parental attitudes on physical activity during leisure time among children in middle childhood

Introduction

Parents' supportiveness and health-promoting habits significantly affect the intensity of children's physical activity (PA) and the involvement of parents in their engagement in PA; in this domain, both the hours devoted to PA and PA goals can be assessed. The family plays an important role in shaping the physical and social organization of the environment for children aged 4-6 years.

Methods

A total of 680 families with 5-year-old children (330 girls, 350 boys) took part in the study. Data were collected from these participants, who were recruited from preschools and primary schools in the Pomeranian region of Poland. The aim of this study was to determine whether the involvement of parents in PA mediates the influence of parental attitudes on the ways in which their children spend their leisure time.

Results

The results showed that not all parental attitudes had direct impact on children's leisure time in PA and outside PA. Other aspects parental attitude had no significant impact on offspring's free time. Among fathers, only four aspects of parental attitude (namely, acceptance-rejection, inconsistency, autonomy, and overprotectiveness) had an impact on PA goals. Mothers' goals were influenced by the strength of a larger number of aspects of attitude (namely, acceptance-rejection, autonomy, inconsistency, over-demandingness, and overprotectiveness). Similarly, the strength of mothers' and fathers' acceptance-rejection attitudes, attitudes of autonomy, and overprotectiveness had an impact on their PA goals but were not directly linked to their children's leisure-time engagement in PA.

Discussion

Not all parental attitudes have a direct impact on children's PA or non-PA leisure time. However, the goals of PA parents have been recognized influence the leisure time of children in PA and outside PA. The most statistically significant relationship for both mothers and fathers was between parental attitudes and PA goals. Parental attitudes do not play a significant role in explaining involvement in PA or lack of it in leisure time among 5-year-old children.

Media pressure and the process of Westernization in the context of body self-assessment among young heterosexual and gay Polish men

Mass media and social networks portray a unified image of the perfect male body. The intensity and universality of this influence is an important element of the process of Westernization, especially in traditional cultures such as that of Poland. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the differences between Polish gay and heterosexual men in terms of the role played by self-esteem and the level of internalization of sociocultural standards of body appearance as predictors of the development of their body images. The research study was conducted by reference to 19- to 29-year-old Polish heterosexual (n = 287) and gay (n = 97) men. The variables were measured using Polish versions of the Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Scale-3, the Self-Esteem Scale, and the Multidimensional Body–Self Relations Questionnaire. Statistical analyses identified several variables as the main predictors of body image in both heterosexual and gay young men: self-esteem, information-seeking, perceived pressure and the internalization of sociocultural standards regarding an athletic body image drawn from mass media. The only significant difference between the two groups was the fact that self-esteem, perceived pressure and the internalization of sociocultural standards from mass media did not play a predictive role with respect to Appearance Orientation among the group of gay men.

Does obesity rule out happiness? Preschool children's perceptions of beauty-related happiness

BACKGROUND

Obesity is considered to be one of the most important factors reducing the sense of happiness and satisfaction with life, especially among women. This belief already exists in middle childhood, as the preschool period is a crucial point in the development of attitudes towards beauty. Preschoolers can identify physically attractive individuals, and they might already form attributions regarding the looks of adults (especially women), which in turn may constitute a foundation for their future concept of beauty-related happiness. Children's attitudes towards the body are also strongly influenced by the content of gender stereotypes that prescribe and proscribe what women and men should look like. In our study, we aimed to analyse the relationship between associations of obesity and happiness made by preschool girls and boys (5-year-olds).

METHODS

A total of 680 families with five-year-old children (329 girls, 351 boys; Mage = 5.7 years) and both parents took part in the study. Children's associations of different types of body sizes with perceptions of happiness were measured with the Beauty & Health pictorial scale.

RESULTS

Our results indicate that obese bodies were seen as unattractive, independent of gender (p < .001). Children associated looks with happiness-the body type identified as the most physically attractive was also seen as a happiest person. Lowest happiness scores were also ascribed to obese body types, but girls assessed men with a normal body type as happier than boys (t = 2.87, p = .004).

CONCLUSIONS

Female bodies are already perceived along gender stereotypical lines at the age of 5, and are also related to potential predictions concerning women's happiness. Children assessed female individuals with slim bodies, as well as those with normal weight, as happier than obese females.