Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 28, No. 5, 1999 Body Size Estimations, Body Dissatisfaction, and Ideal Size Preferences in Children Six Through Thirteen Rick M. Gardner, 1 Brenda N. Friedman, 2 and Natalie A. Jackson 3 Received June 9, 1998; accepted March 3, 1999 Results of the second year of a 3-year longitudinal study on children's body size estimations are reported. Participants were 216 male and female children age 6 through 13. Body size estimations were measured using a TV-video methodology. Three psychophysical procedures measured perceived body size, idealized size, and body dissatisfaction. Self-esteem, body esteem, birth order, number of siblings, and parents' socioeconomic status (SES) were measured. Children were accurate in estimating body size, with no gender, age, or eth- nic differences. Individual estimations varied greatly over the 1-year test-retest interval. Children had a slight bias to report that their body size was distorted too wide. Both genders wanted to be thinner, with females wanting to be increasingly thinner as they became older. Females were also more dissatisfied with their body size. Taller and heavier children with high SES fathers wanted a thinner idealized body size. Taller, thinner children had less body size dissatisfaction. Children with a larger number of siblings who were one of the first born were more dissatisfied with their body size. Children who gained weight during the previous year with- out a concomitant growth in height were also more dissatisfied with their body and wanted to be thinner. Body size estimation is viewed as an important aspect This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Devel- opment, HD31697-01A1. The authors thank Kim Sytten for her help in data collection. This paper presents a longitudinal study and is based in part on data reported earlier in Gardner, R. M., Sorter, R. G., and Friedman, B. N. (1997). 1 Professor of Psychology, University of Colorado at Denver. Received Ph.D. in experimen- tal psychology from the University of Nevada at Reno. Research interest is in the percep- tual aspects of body image. To whom correspondence should be addressed at University of Colorado at Denver, Campus Box 173, P.O. Box 173364, Denver, CO 80217-3364, e-mail: rgardner@carbon.cudenver.edu. 2 Graduate student at Troy State University. Received B.A. in psychology at the University of Colorado at Denver. Current interests are in prevention of eating disorders in children and adults. 3 Received B.A. in psychology at the University of Colorado at Denver. 603 0047-2891/99/1000-0603$16.00/0 C 1999 Plenum Publishing Corporation