What do the social issues research centre have to say?

This site states why in the first place children are worried about body image:
''We are all more obsessed with our appearance than we like to admit. But this is not an indication of 'vanity'. Vanity means conceit, excessive pride in one's appearance. Concern about appearance is quite normal and understandable. Attractive people have distinct advantages in our society. Studies show:

Attractive children are more popular, both with classmates and teachers. Teachers give higher evaluations to the work of attractive children and have higher expectations of them (which has been shown to improve performance).
Attractive applicants have a better chance of getting jobs, and of receiving higher salaries. (one US study found that taller men earned around $600 per inch more than shorter executives.)
In court, attractive people are found guilty less often. When found guilty, they receive less severe sentences.
The 'bias for beauty' operates in almost all social situations – all experiments show we react more favourably to physically attractive people.
We also believe in the 'what is beautiful is good' stereotype – an irrational but deep-seated belief that physically attractive people possess other desirable characteristics such as intelligence, competence, social skills, confidence – even moral virtue. (The good fairy/princess is always beautiful; the wicked stepmother is always ugly)
It is not surprising that physical attractiveness is of overwhelming importance to us.''

Also the reasons for why children are so concious about body image in the first place:
''How? 3 reasons:

Thanks to the media, we have become accustomed to extremely rigid and uniform standards of beauty.
TV, billboards, magazines etc mean that we see 'beautiful people' all the time, more often than members of our own family, making exceptional good looks seem real, normal and attainable.''
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