Research shows extent to which women struggle to make peace with body image

Three in ten women felt uncomfortable about their appearance before they had reached the tender age of 16, according to research comissioned by TENA.

A poll of 2,000 females found their weight, body shape, and dress size, are the main things to affect body confidence.

Strangers (14 per cent) and siblings (10 per cent) are the most likely people to make them feel the most self-conscious.

Comments made about their appearance at school (28 per cent), and comparing themselves to friends in real life (26 per cent), negatively impact the way women feel from an early age.

As women get older, factors such as grey hairs, wrinkles and less taut skin lead to a lack of love for their body – and one in ten even feel that incontinence leads to low self-esteem.

Some 21 per cent of women are simply self-conscious about their age in general.

Lisa Snowdon, who is working with TENA, has spoken of how she didn’t find her own body confidence peak until she was 50.

She said: “Over the years, when I think back to the bullying at school and some of the negative comments and abusive relationships, I needed to dig deep and find my own sense of self-worth, and push all that negativity away.”

TENA spokeswoman, Nancy Sadler, said: “It’s common to have body hang-ups, but it’s a shame to see these concerns start at such a young age.

“Weight and ageing are the most common concerns, but they are all such natural processes. We all grow older and experience a lower metabolism, wrinkles, and even incontinence, so it’s nothing we should be embarrassed about.”

The research also found only 24 per cent of women – less than a quarter of the population - currently feel “very” confident about their appearance.

A third inherited concerns about the way they look from guardians or parents as they were growing up – after overhearing their views on their own body hang-ups.

Sixty-four per cent believe having a bad relationship with the way they look impacts their mental health, while 55 per cent believe it affects their romantic relationships.

And 35 per cent think their parents could have done a better job at helping them understand body image as a child.

Women reportedly feel worst about their appearance when they see themselves in photos (44 per cent), and when they look in the mirror (35 per cent) – while 33 per cent feel least attractive when they are trying on clothes.

But the study, carried out via OnePoll, found 62 per cent believe that, as a woman, they are expected to live up to an unrealistic beauty ideal and with celebrity culture’s obsession with appearance and dress size, it’s really little wonder that the fairer sex feel this way.

It’s well established that body insecurity is almost part and parcel of being female.

Most women and girls are dissatisfied with their bodies, and some take extreme measures in an attempt to change their bodies.

For example, one study found that 63% of female participants identified weight as the key factor in determining how they felt about themselves – more important than family, school, or career.