The Social Construction of the Child’s Body and Its Relationship with Football Practice

Pedro, Gil-Madrona; Luisa, Losada-Puente; Javier, Ruiz-Izquierdo; María, Martínez-López; Antonio, Morcillo-Martínez

doi:10.3390/sports13070202

Open AccessArticle

The Social Construction of the Child’s Body and Its Relationship with Football Practice

by

Gil-Madrona Pedro

¹

,

Losada-Puente Luisa

²

,

Ruiz-Izquierdo Javier

³,

Martínez-López María

^4,*

and

Morcillo-Martínez Antonio

^1,5

¹

Department of Didactics of Physical, Artistic and Music Education, Faculty of Education of Albacete, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 02071 Albacete, Spain

²

Specific Didactics and Methods of Research and Diagnosis in Education Department, Faculty of Education Sciences, Universidade da Coruña, 15008 Coruña, Spain

³

Faculty of Education of Albacete, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 02071 Albacete, Spain

⁴

Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Education of Cuenca, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 010107 Cuenca, Spain

⁵

Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Education of Albacete, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 02071 Albacete, Spain

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Sports 2025, 13(7), 202; https://doi.org/10.3390/sports13070202

Submission received: 13 May 2025 / Revised: 10 June 2025 / Accepted: 19 June 2025 / Published: 23 June 2025

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Abstract

Body image is understood as a social construction acquired over the years that is generated as people learn behaviors and relate to each other in the search of their own identity. The aim of this research is to identify the personal and contextual factors which may influence the positive social, negative social, and self-concept dimensions of the social construction of body image on boys and girls from fifth and sixth grades of Primary Education by developing a descriptive exploratory study. For the sample, 719 pupils of fifth grade and sixth grade from Primary Education were selected to develop this research; 373 of them were boys (51.9%) and 340 girls (47.3%), with 6 lost samples. The main results of this research suggested associations between the lack of physical activity, the increase in BMI, and the increase in the number of siblings who worried more about body perception. Likewise, football stands out after detecting links between the practice of this sport and influences on body perception and self-perception.

Keywords: body image; child body; soccer; physical activity; body perception; physical appearance

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MDPI and ACS Style

Pedro, G.-M.; Luisa, L.-P.; Javier, R.-I.; María, M.-L.; Antonio, M.-M. The Social Construction of the Child’s Body and Its Relationship with Football Practice. Sports 2025, 13, 202. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports13070202

AMA Style

Pedro G-M, Luisa L-P, Javier R-I, María M-L, Antonio M-M. The Social Construction of the Child’s Body and Its Relationship with Football Practice. Sports. 2025; 13(7):202. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports13070202

Chicago/Turabian Style

Pedro, Gil-Madrona, Losada-Puente Luisa, Ruiz-Izquierdo Javier, Martínez-López María, and Morcillo-Martínez Antonio. 2025. "The Social Construction of the Child’s Body and Its Relationship with Football Practice" Sports 13, no. 7: 202. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports13070202

APA Style

Pedro, G.-M., Luisa, L.-P., Javier, R.-I., María, M.-L., & Antonio, M.-M. (2025). The Social Construction of the Child’s Body and Its Relationship with Football Practice. Sports, 13(7), 202. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports13070202

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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