The Social Construction of the Child’s Body and Its Relationship with Football Practice

TL;DR

This study explores how children's body image is shaped by social factors and how football influences their self-perception.

Contribution

The study identifies new associations between physical activity, BMI, sibling count, and body perception in children.

Findings

Lack of physical activity and higher BMI correlate with increased body image concerns in children.

Football practice is linked to positive influences on children's body and self-perception.

More siblings are associated with greater worries about body perception.

Abstract

Body image is understood as a social construction acquired over the years that is generated as people learn behaviors and relate to each other in the search of their own identity. The aim of this research is to identify the personal and contextual factors which may influence the positive social, negative social, and self-concept dimensions of the social construction of body image on boys and girls from fifth and sixth grades of Primary Education by developing a descriptive exploratory study. For the sample, 719 pupils of fifth grade and sixth grade from Primary Education were selected to develop this research; 373 of them were boys (51.9%) and 340 girls (47.3%), with 6 lost samples. The main results of this research suggested associations between the lack of physical activity, the increase in BMI, and the increase in the number of siblings who worried more about body perception. Likewise, football stands out after detecting links between the practice of this sport and influences on body perception and self-perception.