Teenage girls believe they must slim to attract the boys

The vast majority of Irish teenage girls believe it is important to be slim to attract the attention of boys and achieve more self-confidence, a new study has found, writes Alison Healy in this story in The Irish Times.

The study of 400 girls, aged between 14 and 16, found that 80 per cent believed they needed to be thin to attract the opposite sex, the story says. Almost three quarters of the girls surveyed said they were unhappy with their body shape.

The research was conducted throughout the State by University of Ulster doctoral student Elaine Mooney. She found that 46 per cent of girls saw themselves as being fat when in fact they were not overweight. Ms Mooney, a home economics lecturer at St Angela's College, Sligo, outlined her findings at a University of Ulster conference on consumer science research at Jordanstown, Co Antrim, yesterday.

She said that attracting the opposite sex was a recurrent theme in the research. "Boys featured highly and they really believe that if you want to get a boy you must look thin. They believe it is all based on appearance first and then personality."