A new study has revealed that under-14s believe that the influence of magazines, websites and friends telling them to look sexy is making them unhappy and driving some of them to self-harm and eating disorders.

It has shown that girls as young as ten are suffering from stress and anxiety as they struggle to cope with growing up in today’s society. During the study, conducted by Girlguiding UK, researchers found that pressure to own the latest must-haves such as fashionable clothes, iPods and mobile phones left one in five of them feeling angry or sad.