"We see the patterns whereby children are attributing the positive characteristics to the thinner figures, and negative characteristics to the larger figures," says Sian McLean, a psychology lecturer at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, who specialises in body dissatisfaction. "They're developing that quite early, which is a concern because they potentially have the chance to internalise that perception, that being larger is undesirable and being thinner is desirable and associated with social rewards."