Hispanic Youth Not Happy With Their Body

Body image is something young Hispanics are not too confident about, according to a recent study.

Only 33 percent of Latino youth in the first through 12th grades “strongly agree” with the statement that they are happy with the way they look out of the 738 Latino children surveyed, according to the study by YouthBeat, a market research subscription service.

On the other hand, nearly half – or 48 percent – of the African-American youth, have a far more positive body image, compared to the 30 percent of the Caucasian youth, the survey says.

The survey randomly interviewed 6,032 children throughout the U.S.

When separating the data among age groups, it showed that 30 percent of 5 to 8 year olds were happy with their appearance, while only 18 percent of 9 through 12 year olds felt the same way.

Even though there has always been a belief that boys are not concerned about their appearance, only 37 percent of Hispanic boys – and 35 percent of boys overall – in the survey group strongly agreed that “I feel happy with the way I look.”

"Young people are faced with conflicting messages," Amy Henry, vice president of Youth Insights at C&R Research, said in a press release."On one hand, they're being asked to be vigilant about their weight. On the other, they're being told that they should accept themselves and their appearance."