JOIN USIn fact, according to the study, based on a survey of 810 youngsters aged 11 to 16, half of all girls and a third of boys are obsessed with getting a perfect body and an ideal weight, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
The pressure that children felt to have a certain figure meant that one in 10 young boys would take steroids to become more muscular while one in eight girls said they would resort to diet pills or laxatives to help them slim down.
Researchers have revealed that over 50 per cent of girls and more than a third of boys said they compared their bodies with those of people on TV, with a quarter of both the gender willing to undergo cosmetic surgery to recreate their looks.
Rosi Prescott, chief executive of Central YMCA, the charity which commissioned the survey, said: "Young people appear to be increasingly insecure about their appearance and body image.
"There is a growing trend to resort to quick fixes, which are damaging to health and often unfulfilling. It's also interesting that what used to be seen as a problem affecting young girls has now spread to young men.
"The root cause of this problem is the pressure on young people to conform to an unattainable and unrealistic body image ideal."