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MOST girls want to change something about their appearance - and more than one in four 16-year-olds are considering plastic surgery, new research shows.
Nine out of 10 teachers believe girls are not taking part in class activities because they are unhappy with the way they look, according to the research.
By the age of 16, 27 per cent of girls were considering plastic surgery, with 92 per cent wanting to change the way they look, the poll for beauty brand Dove found.
And mothers questioned in the research said curvy singers Charlotte Church and Joss Stone and actress Billie Piper were the best body role models for young girls.
TV presenter Holly Willoughby said: "I'm a size 12 and proud of my curvy figure. It's important to encourage young women to accept themselves for who they are and campaign for more positive celebrity role models."
The Dove research found 74 per cent of eight to 12-year-old girls wanted to change something about their appearance. Three out of 10 wanted to be slimmer, while 15 per cent wished they were taller. Figures showed 72 per cent of teens worldwide haveavoided school activities because they were not happy with the way they looked.
RESEARCH SPANNED NATIONS AND AGE GROUPS
THE research involved a survey of 3,300 girls and women aged 15 to 64 in 10 countries' an online survey with 250 secondary school teachers in February 2006' an online survey with 500 girls aged between eight and 12' and a YouGov poll of 1,058 Britishmums of girls aged 10 to 16.
(C) 2006 Coventry Evening Telegraph. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved
