Spending a few hours on physical activity can improve a teenage girl's body image and self-esteem, a new study says.
A group of researchers led by Dr. Bree Abbott from Murdoch University initiated to find out the factors that make adolescent girls happy. They found the function of the body or physical activity making girls happier and helping to improve their confidence levels.
However, the findings contradict the common belief that teenage girls are more concerned about their looks and it gives them more satisfaction and happiness.
"Society constantly tells us teenage girls worry about their appearances and boys worry about how their bodies function, but I discovered that wasn't the case at all," Dr. Abbott said in a news release. "Young women value the function of their body more than their appearance, and they invest more time in it [than appearance], and are consistently more satisfied with that aspect than their looks."
Many people trying to help in improving young girls' body image focus solely on the appearance. However, according to Dr. Abbott, it's not going to help and will have a negative impact.
"In reality, the more an adolescent's focus moves from function to appearance, the unhappier they become. While this may seem like common sense, the message is not being communicated or put into practice," Dr. Abbott said.
A study included in Dr. Abbott's research analyzed factors that influence self-esteem of the young generation. The study looked at nearly 1,900 students aged between nine and 11.
Children were divided into three groups. The first group participated in structured exercise programs like sports/gymnastics. The second group followed unstructured exercise programs like jogging, walking and gym. The last group didn't involve in any kind of physical activity.
At the end of the study, researchers found the exercise programs had helped in improving girl's body image. "We found girls who did any form of exercise - structured or unstructured - felt better about their appearance than girls who were inactive," Dr. Abbott said.
