SACRAMENTO, Calif. — There are two great loves in Megan Ashley’s life, her first being her two kids, including her 2-year-old son Killian.

“He’s the best part of the day,” Ashley said.

The second is something many girls dream of growing up to be: a fairytale princess.

Being a princess has become a full-time job for Ashley, and it starts with makeup.

“Every character I get to play, the makeup is a little different,” she said. “Whether we’re doing the contouring or the different colors of blush.”

Many kids idolize princesses and other female fairytale characters they see in shows, something Ashley said she’s very aware of when performing.

“One of the most important things that we are doing when we’re there is teaching them what it means to be a true princess,” she said. “And we get to give them a lesson on that every single time. That means having love, kindness, goodness, courage and bravery all inside of your heart. And always putting others’ needs before your own.”

Concerns around princess characters creating a negative gender stereotype of women for kids’ self-image have long been discussed.

But new research by Jane Shawcroft, a UC Davis doctoral student researcher in the Department of Communication, shows this is not the case, especially about Disney princesses.

“We were really surprised by the findings of this particular study,” Shawcroft said. “We basically found that children whose favorite princess was a thin Disney princess — we didn’t see any associations over time with their body image.”

The study occurred over a year with 340 children and their caregivers. 

Shawcroft said they also looked at what happened with a kids’ self-image whose favorite character had more, as she characterized, an “average or above average” body type.

“So, someone like Moana or Merida,” Shawcroft said. “We saw that playing Disney princesses for those children was associated with better body esteem over time.”

Shawcroft said boys under 13 who watch Disney princess films are more likely to think women should attend college.

Ashley said many little boys get just as excited as girls when they see her.

Along with creating a magical experience, Ashley said parents often request her help with an issue their child may have.

“I did have one mom come to me ahead of time, and so we knew that her daughter was really struggling with reading and was really feeling down about it,” Ashley said. “So, this bookworm princess who loves reading books got to talk with her daughter about that and encourage her and her reading.”

Ashley said that being able to do things like this for kids is proof that princess magic isn’t just in fairytales.