“How do I draw something that doesn’t exist?”: A qualitative exploration of (pre)adolescents’ constructions and negotiations of personal and ideal(ized) bodies through drawings

Background
Preoccupations with body shape, size, and appearance fluctuate over the lifespan but recent evidence suggests that body image concerns already arise in school-age children (aged 6–12), with some differences across gender and ethno-cultural backgrounds.

Objective
The guiding research question is how (pre)adolescents portray and reflect on their own bodies and ‘ideal’ bodies through drawing.

Methods
This study adopts a draw-and-write-and-tell methodology within focus groups with a total of 30 (pre)adolescents between the ages of 9 and 12 at ethnically diverse schools across the Netherlands. Thematic analysis was conducted to analyze the data.

Results
Drawing their own bodies, (pre)adolescents demonstrated a segmented, atomic perception of their body, and adopted a functional approach to their bodies, undermining the (sole) importance of appearance and highlighting what their bodies (enable them to) do. (Pre)adolescents also engaged in various (gendered) appearance practices, such as dieting or exercise, which related to their peer/family environments. Through drawing their ideal bodies, the participants provided and reflected on narrow, gendered body ideals. Girls constructed more detailed images and descriptions of (ideal) female bodies and also aspired to this ideal more than boys. Yet, some of the (pre)adolescents were also critical of dominant body ideals, questioning their desirability or even existence, and opposed them via emphasizing the ‘idealness’ of their own bodies.

Conclusions
This study illustrates the complex and nuanced constructions and negotiations of (pre)adolescents’ personal and ideal bodies, which also has important implications for interventions related to body image and (social) media literacy.