Children and Young People’s Experience of Body and Well-being

Embodied Young Livesis a research project that investigates how children and young people experience body size and well-being in everyday life and within institutional settings. Through qualitative studies in families, schools, and health interventions, the project contributes new knowledge about children’s and young people’s own perspectives on body, health, and well-being.

Background for the project

Children and young people’s well-being and health are central concerns in both research and policy. At the same time, the prevalence of overweight is rising, and many experience body-related stigma – in the family, at school, and within the healthcare system.

Embodied Young Lives seeks to understand how children and young people with different body sizes experience their bodies, health, and social environments – not as objective measurements, but as lived experiences.

The project uses a holistic and practice-theoretical approach that recognizes the body as a site of sensation, norms, and social relations. Through participant observation, interviews, and visual methods, the researchers examine children’s and young people’s bodily experiences in four contexts: family life, primary school, continuation school (efterskole), and residential weight-loss camps (Julemærkehjem). The project also focuses on the influence of gender, age, social background, and ethnicity on children’s and young people’s understandings and experiences of body and well-being.

The research project is a collaboration between VIVE, Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus, and the National Center for Obesity.

Name of the project: ’Embodied Young Lives: Children’s and Adolescents’ Perspectives on Body Size and Well-Being in Everyday and Institutional Contexts’.