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Girls of that age should still be being girls - thinking about toys, dance classes and slumber parties. However, according to research out this week, their self-esteem has already taken a battering with a third of those questioned wanting to lose weight, 27 per cent wanting to change their hair colour and 15 per cent desperate to be taller.

What's even more alarming is that the survey commissioned by skin-care brand Dove discovered that by the time they turn 16, nine out of ten are so dissatisfied they want to change the way they look. And a quarter of these teens would even be willing to go under the knife to do so.

Such extremes of feeling seem like they're straight out of a teen magazine or television soap, yet it seems the results are just reflecting reality as we discovered from four 16-year-old friends.

"I think a girl is really lucky if it [her body shape] doesn't come into her head and it doesn't bother her," says Fiona Kingston from Silverknowes.

Her friend Marie Davidson, from Barnton, agrees. "I think the survey results are shocking but true. With the friends I have, a lot of people will stop eating their lunch at some point or they'll open a packet of peanuts and just eat one nut. A lot of people complain about their figures wishing they had better legs or stomach."

Fiona Kennedy, from East Craigs, is also aware of the widespread teenage dissatisfaction with body shape. She has PE classes six days a week and says that even then there's no way she could be classified as skinny - but would rather be healthy. She says: "I think there's this pressure everywhere. It's not just here in Edinburgh or Scotland but everywhere."

Hannah Lanigan, from Barton, adds: "I heard a story about a girl who's stick thin but wouldn't go somewhere for lunch because they had fat in the food. She is absolutely tiny, about a size four."

Both Fionas, Marie and Hannah all have enviable figures but that doesn't stop the foursome from Royal High School worrying from time to time. Marie - who skis as a hobby - says: "I have bad days and good days. In general, I'm happy but I'd like to eat healthier by eating less sweets and snacks and do more keep-fit."

Fiona Kingston, who admits not doing much exercise (as does Hannah), disagrees. She says: "I try not to let it affect me because it shouldn't matter but I think it's hard not to let it bother me at all. And I would say there's things about my body that I'd like to change. But I know how to do that. Plus, I'm only in fifth year and it's the hardest year of school so sometimes at the end of the day I just want to get home and eat rubbish."

Fiona Kennedy admits: "Everyone wants to say they're happy with how they look and they're happy with 'me' but you always have little secret things you want to change, such as shedding a few pounds here and there. I'm generally quite happy - but yes there are things I'd change, little things."

However, Hannah is content with her figure. "I don't have a problem with how I look, there's no point in wasting time. Anyone can look good if you're confident with yourself."

More pleasingly despite their body niggles none of the girls would ever consider surgery. "I'm just not into that plastic thing," laughs Hannah.

But poor body image does exist and the girls admit many of their peers dislike their shape. The reason? "The majority of people on TV are tall and skinny so if you're not that then you do want to change to look a little bit better," says Fiona Kingston. "Other people see these magazines and think that is how everyone should look.

"Yeah, I look at these magazines and think if only I looked like that I'd be so much happier but when I think about it properly I realise I wouldn't. It's about beauty on the inside."

Marie adds: "I think magazines are a contradiction themselves because in one part of the magazine they're commenting on how fat someone has got and then they tell people not to worry if they're fat.

"Women do worry and we do focus on the negative so why talk about it so much? But I know some people do pay attention to it. They look at those celebrities and say 'I want to look like her', 'she's so pretty'." Top of their list of popular celebrity figures are Kiera Knightly, Chantelle from Celebrity Big Brother, Jade Gooding "because she's lost the weight," Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen and Nicole Richie, pictured far right.

Fiona Kingston says: "Girls just seem to think they're [skinny celebs] great but most of the boys admit that if they touched a girl as skinny as that they'd break her.

"It doesn't matter what the boys say. I actually think many girls will think the boys will like them even more skinnier, and just assume that boys don't know what they want."

Fiona Kennedy adds: "All those images of celebrities are successful and pretty, so I think some girls look at those magazines and think they won't get anywhere unless they look as skinny.

"That's bad because young girls will want to lose weight to wear the outfit they like, especially when the skimpy summer trends start - nearly all girls our age will start the diets again."

Fiona Kennedy agrees, and adds: "But it's also what guys think - especially when you're a teenager. At our age everyone wants a boyfriend so that has a lot to do with it. And I think that people think that if you're not skinny then the boys won't be interested. But I bet the boys don't actually care."

Marie says: "I know a lot of girls who talk about their weight and bodies all the time. When they get together it's the first thing they talk about - and they're not overweight. And they notice every single thing about another person and comment on it."

Fiona butts in: "There is also a story going round school that only the girls who wear pale-coloured tights think they have good legs. Those who wear black tights think they don't. And people now worry about this - it doesn't help matters."

Shows such as The OC and Hollyoaks deal with issues such as anorexia and bulimia and do show negative body images as a "bad thing," which helps many teenager viewers. However, when the glamorous cast themselves are as skinny as the anorexic character, then it smacks of hypocrisy and sends mixed messages to its influential viewers.

"It just puts a lot of girls our age under pressure to look a certain way, to be skinny and beautiful," says Marie. "Plus when guys watch these shows they look at these girls and think they're hot. But not everyone is like that."

So, who has the perfect figure? The girls agree that Charlotte Church is the clear winner, looking stylish, healthy and curvy - and managing to bag that "gorgeous boyfriend".

Fiona Kennedy, left, agrees: "I'd always be on the podgy side rather than skinny. And I also know these celebrities have make-up artists and designer clothes making them look good - it doesn't fool me."

And Marie sums it up. "There's no perfect shape, no perfect size. Looking good is all about confidence and being happy with what you have. Now that is attractive."

THE Body Shop once famously ran an advertising campaign which said that there were only seven people in the world who actually looked like supermodels, and that the average size for women in this country was 14.

Yet in a survey of 2000 girls just last year, 42 per cent said they were regularly depressed - with 94 per cent of those feeling miserable blaming it on the pressure to look good.

Dr Andrew Hill, a senior lecturer in behavioural sciences at Leeds University Medical School, says: "Children are picking up on the anti-fat culture expounded by the media and health professionals at a very early age. Being fat was once an appearance issue. Now we are saying being fat is bad for you."

He points out that it is entirely normal for young children to put on weight at different stages in their physical development. "In puberty, girls double in body fat. They are physically gaining the body tissue they need for fertility. Unless you have enough body fat, you won't menstruate."

Younger children teasing each other about having a fat bottom or legs are in fact looking at puppy fat, he adds. "These so-called fat youngsters will grow into adults of an average weight."

Deanne Jade, the founder of the National Centre for Eating Disorders, says the research didn't surprise her. "Our children are getting anxious younger about they way they look but that won't necessarily lead to more eating disorders or to an epidemic of anorexia."

She says that our complex relationship with food starts right back in the cradle - and creates the vicious circle of feeling miserable and weight gain. "A baby's blood sugar falls if they are hungry and they get in a dire emotional state. They scream and cry, are fed and feel better. So very early on we learn to associate stress reduction with eating and drinking.

"Secondly, the chemicals we gain from food have a strong impact not only on appetite but also on our emotional brains, so connections between food and mood become intricately connected. Because of this complex relationship, people might say they are hungry and genuinely believe it, when in fact they are sad."

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