Body image and sport
By Jennifer Nash
Hang on, we’re a body image organisation, why are we talking about sport?
Body image is how we think and feel about our bodies, and in turn how we treat them.
Research shows that negative body image is a major barrier to engagement in sport, particularly for children and young people. For adolescents, body image has shown to be a greater determinant of whether a teen will engage in physical activity than actual skill[1].
Just as how we feel about our body can affect our relationship with food and other health promoting behaviours such as self-care, if we have positive body image, we are more likely to consistently engage in exercise and movement[2], which we know has positive benefits for our health and wellbeing.
What has poor body image got to do with low levels of physical activity in children?
There may be many reasons for trying to skive off PE lessons, such as bullying or teasing, challenging changing room environments or dislike of PE kits – some of which can be felt even more keenly by neurodivergent children. Negative body image is both a reason in itself for why children might avoid physical activity[2] and a contributing factor to these previously mentioned issues. 36% of girls and 24% of boys regularly avoid exercise or PE lessons due to worries about appearance[3].
Conversely, we know that participation in physical activity is related to better and more positive body image[2]. Research shows that programmes which emphasise improving body image have proven successful in helping adolescents return to physical activity[1].
“Body image and sport participation share a bidirectional relationship and can impact each other in both positive and negative ways. Poor body image can be a barrier to sport while positive body image can be a facilitator, and sport can either improve or worsen one’s body image, depending on one’s experience in sport. It is important to foster enjoyable and safe sport experiences for young people so that they may gain the body image benefits of sport participation.”
Diet culture in sport and the importance of representation
Diet culture (see this post if you want a refresher on the meaning behind this term) likes to govern what is ‘healthy’ or not, particularly in the form of dictating body ideals and equating these with ‘health’. As we know, diet culture has its roots in, and is fundamentally interwoven with, other forms of systemic oppression, including ableism, racism and classism, which show up in the arena of physical activity by traditionally excluding certain individuals from participating in sport.
Representation of diverse bodies in sport is essential to counter this narrative of diet culture. Representation shows children and young people that all bodies can participate and helps mitigate the effects of lack of representation experienced elsewhere, such as on social media, which might be contributing to poor body image. Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign, which included a broader representation of bodies than is typically seen in the media and promoted intuitive exercise, showed representation can help improve participation in exercise amongst women.
Intuitive and joyful movement
Exercising for appearance-based motivations (defined as extrinsic reasons) is associated with poor body image, disordered eating and low self-esteem, whereas exercising for intrinsic motivations - including considering how movement makes us feel - is associated with feelings of appreciation for one’s body. When people exercise for these intrinsic reasons, they are more likely to consistently engage with movement and therefore reap the long-term benefits of exercise[4].
‘Intuitive movement’ is an extension of the intuitive eating approach, which counters the messages of diet culture. Intuitive movement encourages you to free yourself of rigid rules around exercise, listen to your body (which involves learning to rest!) and move in a way that makes you feel good. Here at The Body Happy Organisation™ we like to take this approach in how we teach children about exercise – helping them to understand that movement should be fun and joyful!
How to promote joyful movement amongst children: three ideas to implement now with the children in your care
⚡ Focus on the feeling:
Teach children to tune into how movement makes them feel and prioritise this over exercising for appearance-based motivations. Movement can boost our mood, help us sleep better, shake off some anxiety or increase our flexibility!
⚡ Find diverse sporting heroes:
Help children see that adults and children come in all shapes and sizes, and regardless of shape, size or ability all people have the right to enjoy engaging in sports. Show children a range of different athletes in different shaped bodies to promote the idea that health is not “a look” and that we can’t assume to know anything about a person’s athletic ability just from looking at their body. (We include a list of diverse sporting heroes to look up in the workshop notes booklets that come with our CPD workshops for adults who work with children - including our specialist PE educator CPD training workshop.)
⚡ Discover opportunities for movement: Remember all movement is valid! Look for opportunities throughout your child’s day to enjoy physical activity and help children understand exercise is more than just formal sports lessons. Kitchen discos, skipping, games of hide and seek – they all ‘count’ as physical activity and help show kids that we are all sportspeople!
“Thank you for making the day such a success. Attendees spoke highly of the amount of information and ideas they took from the workshops”
For educators: Did you know that body image initiatives which seek to boost engagement in sport (such as our CPD workshops, Student Sessions and learning resources) can be purchased with the Primary Schools’ PE and sport premium? Click on the buttons below to find out about the various ways we can support you to help the children and young people in your care be friends with their bodies.
References
[1] Davelaar, C.M.F. 2021. Body image and its role in physical activity: a systematic review. Cureus 13 (2): 213379.
[2] Sabiston, C.M. Pila, E. Vani, M. Thogersen-Ntoumani, C. 2019. Body image, physical activity, and sport: a scoping review. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 42: 48-57.
[3] Be Real Campaign. 2017. Somebody like me: A report investigating the impact of body image anxiety on young people in the UK.
[4] Teixeira, P.J. Carraca, E.V. Markland, D. Silva, M.N. Ryan, R.M. 2012. Exercise, physical activity and self-determination theory: A systematic review. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 9 (78).