NEW RESEARCH conducted by Weight Watchers has revealed that modern Welsh women are considerably less confident than their mothers were at the same age.
As part of the survey, Weight Watchers questioned over 2,000 women across the UK and in Wales.
Weight Watchers state that today’s young Welsh women are ‘losing out in the self-confidence generation game’, as their survey results have exposed the fact that over two thirds of Welsh women aged between 18 and 30 do not currently consider themselves to be confident.
Whilst 62% of Welsh women, more than the national average of 58%, feel their body is the area they are least confident about, research also revealed that the older generations of women are twice as positive about themselves as the younger generation, with less than 7% of Welsh 18 to 30 year-olds feeling confident in their bodies at all.
Weight Watchers say that although young women today enjoy considerably more freedom and equality both in their careers and relationships than previous generations, they are more lacking in confidence and self-esteem compared to older women when they were the same age.
In a cross generational study conducted by Weight Watchers, it was revealed that the younger women asked had 50% less positive thoughts about themselves a day compared to their mothers’ generation, alongside a third more negative thoughts per day.
For Welsh women, there was a strong correlation between body confidence and the women’s overall happiness. 20% of women aged between 50 and 65 reported having body confidence in their thirties, with 74% of these women agreeing that they currently felt happy in themselves.
Sadly, less than 10% of today’s 30-year-olds felt that they were happy in their appearance, with only 66% feeling happy in themselves overall.
This evidence was further supported by the result that young women place more than four times more emphasis on physical improvement by working on their health and fitness (59%), but only 5% of these women answered that they were happy about their body.
Nearly half of the women surveyed stated that their body was the area of their life they currently felt most unhappy about.
Commenting on the findings of the Weight Watchers research, Dr Katy Tapper, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at City University London, said: “It is unsurprising that these findings indicate young women today are feeling far less confident in their bodies than the older generation did at the same age.
“The UK is seeing rising rates of obesity in young women which can contribute to decreased body confidence and lead to lower mood levels.”
However, it was reported that young women had higher degrees of confidence in their relationships and professional capabilities than their mother’s generation did at their age. 58% of the older women survey agreed that today’s young women are much more empowered than they were at the same age.
However, 55% of the older generation concurred that the pressure to look good is more prevalent today, which could potentially be a consequence of the rise of the selfie. They said that this is likely due to the perceived confidence that results from the current social media climate of confidence building through curated photographic representations of the self.
The older generations were more likely to be pleased with how they look in the mirror (38%), be proud of something they had accomplished during the day (21%) or walk down the street feeling good about themselves when they were the same age (75%).
Zoe Griffiths, Head of Public Health and Programme at Weight Watchers, remarked on the survey results, saying: “It is clear that women today are far harder on themselves in all aspects of life than their mothers’ generation was. From careers and relationships to the way they look, women today are pushing themselves to exceed in every way.
“This is a trend can have a huge impact on young women’s confidence which is why at Weight Watchers, we believe it is incredibly important for women to build a strong and positive relationship with body and mind.
“We want to empower women to focus on building greater self-belief to achieve positive change.”
This researched has been conducted by Weight Watchers as a part of #WomanKind, a nationwide campaign that explores why modern women are unkind to themselves and how they can counter this cultural habit, to make healthier choices by focusing on building greater selfbelief to build better relationships with themselves.
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