Much-hated Disney princesses are actually good for a child’s self-image: study
Haters, it’s time to leave Ariel and Elsa alone.
Ever since Snow White first appeared on screens in 1937, Disney princesses ha🃏ve endured an onslaught of criticism for being too weak, too thin, too pretty and no🌊t racially diverse.
But now, researchers from the University of California in Davis and Brigham Young University have determined that having a favorite Disney princess can actually improve a child’s body image.
Additionally, some well-loved Disney princesses enhanced the different ways that children chos🐟e to play, encouraging young girls, for example, to take on more active, traditionally masculine roles.
“People are critical of Disney princesses,” Jane Shawcroft, a researcher at UC Davis’ Department of Communication and lead author of the peer-viewed study, . “With children’s media, people tend to be critical or dismissive of what kids, especially girls, like. Disney princesses really matter to young children.”
However, Shawcroft’s analysis suggests caregivers should be careful about those princesses.
The study — entitled “Ariel, Aurora, or Anna? Disney Princess Body Size as a Predictor of Body Esteem and Gendered Play in Early Childhood” — was in the journal Psychology of Popular Media.
Researchers divided D🅰isney princesses into three body categories: thin, average and above average/heavy.
For example, Moana from the 2016 film of the same name was coded as having an average body size. Princess Jasmine, from 1992’s “Aladdin,” was coded as being thin.
Then th💙e researcheꩲrs surveyed 340 children and their caregivers in the Denver area from 2020 to 2021. Roughly half the children in the study were girls, and about 84% were white.
T﷽he team surveyed the guardians when their children were 3 years old, and again one year later to measure𒀰 any changes in body image and gendered play.
Choice of play was categorized based꧃ on gender stereotypes: Toy guns, for example, were considered stereotypically masculine, while dolls were considered feminine.
The results found a significant difference between a Disney princess with an average bodಌy type and a thin body type. Kids whose preferred princess𒁏es with an average body — such as Moana — had higher body esteem.
And those kids were also more open to exploring play that was both stereotypically masculine as well as feminine, a ꦦfinding that was true for both boys and girls, the researchers determined.
Shawcroft said that these results might be due to the fact that Disney princesses with average bodies are more physically active 🐓in their storylines.
“They’re running and climbing enormo꧙us mountains and fighting things,” said Shawcroft. “For these princesses, their stories are more about what they can do with their bodies than how their bodies look.”
But what about thin Disney pওrincesses, who are often blamed for cauಌsing body-image issues?
An important revelation from the study was that having a favorite princess who was thin did not change or harm a child’s body image or preferred type of gendered play.
However, “children whose favorite princess was depicted with a thin body size did not demonstrate” the same degree of increased body esteem and diverse types of play as children who preferred Disney princesses with average bodies.
The researchers believed having a favorite princess wit🔥h an average body conferred a sense of safety for the children who loved them.
“Princesses with average body size created a protective effect, strengthening how confident children feel about their own bodies and freeing them to play in different ways,” Shawcroft said. &nb🍎sp;
