Insatisfação corporal em meninas e sua associação com o comportamento alimentar

Abstract

Scientific evidence indicates that eating habits in adolescents can be influenced by body image, weight, nutritional status, social media, family and friends. Girls who are more concerned with appearance and body, are at risk for developing dysfunctional eating behaviors - including dieting and dysfunctional emotional eating. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the body perception and eating behavior of female adolescents from public schools in the city of São João del-Rei, Minas Gerais, Brazil. A total of 171 adolescents completed the Body Shape Questionaire to assess body perception and The three factor eating questionnaire - R21to identify aspects of eating behavior. Spearman correlation was used to assess the association between variables. The Kruskal-Wallis test was applied to compare two or more independent groups and the Multiple Correspondence Analysis to assess correlation and variability. The mean age was 15 ± 0.8 years, with 50% of these girls having some degree of body image dissatisfaction. Regarding eating behavior, the mean of each of the variables evaluated were: cognitive restriction 29.7; emotional eating 54.4 and uncontrolled eating 59.8. The study showed that there is a correlation between the BSQ scores and the three variables of eating behavior evaluated; that body image dissatisfaction is related to scores above 50% of emotional eating (EE) and that higher levels of EE are associated with higher levels of uncontrolled eating. This findings suggests is essential to strengthen strategies based on the acceptance of the body image to build a healthy relationship with foodsince the body image dissatisfaction associated with EE suggests the occurrence of eating disorders.