Nothing alien about it: A comparison of weight bias in preschool-aged children's ratings of non-human cartoons and human figures

Abstract

Media exposes children to weight biased messaging by presenting overweight characters negatively. Although bias against human figures and human characters has been examined, children's bias against non-human animated characters is unstudied. Children's (N=60; 4-6 years old) weight bias against human and non-human characters was measured. Children saw characters of different weights (thin, overweight), genders (girl, boy), and stimuli type (human-line drawing, human-photo, non-human cartoon), and rated them using positive and negative characteristics. ANOVAs and t-tests examined weight bias based on mean ratings of each character. Overweight figures were rated more negatively than non-overweight figures overall, regardless of gender or type of stimulus. Further, mean ratings of the non-human cartoon were significantly less positive than ratings of both the line drawings and photographs of human figures. However, there was no interaction of stimulus type and weight status, suggesting that bias is expressed equally against human and non-human overweight figures. Results indicated that children's negative weight bias extends to non-human cartoon figures. Implications for children's media are discussed.

Keywords: Media; Obesity; Overweight; Preschool child; Weight bias.