Study reveals the social pressures facing young children

NINE year olds are a happy-go-lucky lot who are comfortable with their appearance but who recognise that society can place a lot of significance on looks.

In the latest findings of an ongoing study of the lives of 9 year olds in Ireland, children identified height and size as potentially important for boys and “being pretty and having light skin colour” as potentially significant for girls — and that a lack of these attributes could lead to bullying.

The authors of the Growing Up In Ireland study, who, as part of the latest research, interviewed 120 children and families, said it became evident throughout “that a person’s physical attributes could make them a target for bullying and name-calling”.