Irish girls’ poor body image is caused by peer pressure.
The Dáil na nÓg Council survey found that the most negative influence on girls’ body image was comparing themselves to other girls their age.
This contradicts the idea that it is the media and celebrity world that has young girls stressing about their body image and weight.
The survey also revealed that, because of body image, girls are up to twice as likely as boys to struggle with taking part in activities such as swimming, sports, dating and putting photos of themselves on Facebook.
It also emerged that almost twice as many girls as boys, more than one in five 15-year-old girls to be specific, exercised to control their weight, as opposed to staying healthy or taking part in a social activity.
The survey, published in today’s Irish Examiner, gave an insight into the thoughts and pressures of Irish teenagers between the ages of 10 and 21.
Although positive body image was higher among boys at every age, the pressures for boys to take part in excessive exercise and use body-building supplements were highlighted as well.
Over 40 per cent of the young people surveyed were unhappy with their body image and two out of three feeling under pressure to look good for other people.
The study was published in How We See It: Report of a Study on Young People’s Body Image and showed how young Irish people’s satisfaction with their body image deteriorated rapidly over the course of their adolescence.
One 17-year-old girl from Limerick described how all the girls in her class loved going swimming when they were younger, but how their attitude changed as they became teenagers.
Suddenly, girls were bringing in notes on a weekly basis from their parents with excuses as to why they couldn’t take part in the activity.
“No one was comfortable wearing their swimming togs in front of other people in the class, everyone’s perception of themselves had changed and we were all a lot more conscious than when we were 12 years old,” Kaila Dunne told the Irish Examiner.
