FAT shaming  affects boys as young as six-years-old with new data showing a worrying rise in youngsters that are fretting about their weight.

The latest findings from Roy Morgan’s nationwide Young Australians Survey show more than one-third of the nation’s kids have body-image issues, reports Courier Mail.

Both genders are increasingly affected at an early age by society’s obsession with being thin, the survey found.

More than one in five boys aged six to seven worry about being fat – up from 16 per cent in 2012. Boys aged 12 to 13 had a smaller increase, from 36 per cent to 39 per cent.

The number of year 1 and 2 pupils with weight worries continues to soar.

“The striking increase in kids aged between six and seven years worrying about their weight is not a trend that anyone wants to see,” Roy Morgan Research CEO Michele Levine said.

“Childhood should be a happy, untroubled time, free of such ­insecurities.

“On a more promising note, there has been a drastic drop in girls aged 12 to 13 who are worried about their weight.

“As they make the transition to high school and adolescence, we can only hope this trend continues.”

Do your kids worry about their weight?

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