Obesity is defined as a chronic disease characterized by the ratio between one’s body mass and height squared being 30 or greater [
1]. Being obese has many negative consequences for a person’s physical [
2‐
4] and mental health [
5‐
7] and is related to disadvantageous economic outcomes [
8]; hence, it naturally relates to various aspects of one’s life, including quality of life [
9]. The concept of happiness is often defined as an overall measure of life evaluation, where happiness is defined as the degree to which a person positively evaluates the overall quality of their present life [
10]. Multiple studies from many countries found evidence for a negative relationship between obesity and happiness (or life satisfaction) and a positive relationship between obesity and depression [
11‐
16], but this relationship has rarely been analysed among preschool children and how they perceive the relationship between body size and happiness [
17].
Happiness according to children
Happiness, in general, is understood as manifestation of subjective well-being (SWB). The well-being of children is a multifaceted concept that refers to both their subjective feelings and experiences as well as to their living conditions [
18]. From a child’s point of view, effective ways to experience happiness include having friendships, engaging in free play, experiencing nature, colours, or artwork, being challenged, and experiencing new things [
19]. Children have their own specific agenda for happiness, which has been empirically identified. Research by Zawadzka and Dykalska-Bieck [
20] has shown that the attributes of happiness in preschool children can be classified into three categories: family and friends, possessions, and positive emotions. Most preschoolers (71%) consider themselves to be happy; 12% of children consider themselves to be happy only sometimes, and 15% believe that they are not happy [
21]. However, one of the responses given by preschool children when asked about happiness is that [happy people are] successful people (‘‘they succeed in everything’’, ‘‘they do a lot of useful things’’) [
21]. Parents usually trigger the development of certain concepts in their children, and despite the almost universal interest in the issue of happiness at different stages of human life, there is a gap in the literature examining how various parental attitudes and beliefs may regulate preschool children’s perceptions of happiness [
20]. In our study, we focused on children’s perceptions of beauty-based happiness.
Body size, happiness, and gender stereotypes
The concept of beauty ideals is developed during the socialization process, and one of its aspects concerns body size—which body size is considered ideal? The answer to this question can be found within contemporary content of gender stereotypes that include prescriptions and proscriptions concerning women’s and men’s ideal looks [
22‐
25]. As a result, both cultural norms transmitted by parents/caregivers and peers indirectly and directly determine children’s relationships with physical attractiveness, and influence their roles in their child’s social life [
26‐
28].
One of the negative manifestations of such a relationship is body stigmatization [
29,
30], which is already present in childhood [
31,
32]. Children already prefer slim bodies and average-sized individuals by the time they reach preschool age [
33,
34], and they already manifest a disinclination towards obese individuals by the age of three [
35]. Three-year-olds ascribe negative features to obese individuals and are more likely to choose children of average build rather than overweight children as playmates [
36].
Three- and four-year-old children are less likely to ascribe positive adjectives to individuals of average build than five-year-old children; this can be considered through the lens of the work of Inhelder and Piaget [
37], according to which younger children rely mainly on dichotomous comparisons. Only at the age of five years do children begin to understand relationships based on seriation. Thus, it is difficult to state whether their preference for slim bodies is a result of body stigmatization or simply because the category “slim-good” appears earlier in development than “fat-bad”. In the research by Harriger [
38], three-year-olds selected obese children as playmates more frequently than five-year-olds did. This is an interesting result, especially given that the three-year-olds also exhibited a significant inclination towards ascribing positive features to slim individuals and a general disinclination towards the bodies of obese individuals as well as those of average build; this suggests that the belief that “slim is better” increasingly appears in younger children. The results of these studies suggest that there is a difference between knowledge regarding stereotypes and stereotypical beliefs: children may exhibit knowledge of stereotypes independently of whether they believe the stereotypes are appropriate [
38].
Stereotypical ways of thinking about being overweight or obese are reinforced between the ages of five and eight years [
39]. Obese individuals are often discriminated against because their condition is associated with weak character rather than medical problems. Many perceive obesity as a sign of laziness, incompetence, lack of discipline, indulgence of one’s whims, and emotional problems [
40].
Obese children are socially rejected by their peers [
41] and, worse, by adults [
42,
43]. Even young children believe that obese individuals are characterized by negative personality features and are worse behaved (e.g., more aggressive) and hence that they are inferior candidates for friendship [
44]. Children also display a tendency to attribute reduced intellectual skills (slimmer is smarter) as well as interpersonal attractiveness (they are better partners to play with) [
45] to such people, which can lead to the creation of specific types of sociometric statuses depending on body type.
A very interesting pattern is observed in the preschool period; this stage constitutes a crucial point in the development of attitudes towards both the beauty of the human body and gender stereotypes: preschoolers are able to identify physically attractive individuals, but do not compare their own self-image to this pattern [
46]. For example, four-year-old girls express some anxiety related to their looks, but this does not influence their overall level of happiness [
47]. Furthermore, preschoolers do not associate the looks of boys and girls with life success and happiness (no attributions of “slimmer is happier”, and “obese is the most miserable” occurred) [
45], but they might form such attributions regarding the looks of adults. In our study, we aimed to analyse the relationship between associations of beauty and happiness made by preschool pupils (5-year-olds).
Study overview and hypotheses
In our study, we aimed to analyse the relationship between associations of obesity and happiness made by preschool girls and boys (5-year-olds). We predicted that children would show a tendency to perceive slimmer silhouettes as more beautiful/handsome than obese silhouettes (H1) and that children would associate happiness more strongly with slim silhouettes than with obese silhouettes (H2). This would be moderated by a person’s gender—namely, this relationship would be stronger for female silhouettes than male silhouettes, indicating that, by the age of five years, children already associate happiness with one’s body shape/type; this would mainly be observed with regard to female bodies (H3).
Our study also allowed us to explore other relationships between perceptions of different categories of happiness and beauty separately for boys and girls. Many studies conducted among adults have shown a negative relationship between body size and happiness (or life satisfaction) [
11,
12], but to our knowledge, this relationship has not been analysed among preschool children. Analysing such associations and their strengths and development among children might be an important line of research for future interventions aimed at improving the quality of life of teenagers and adults.