Estado nutricional de adolescentes: percepção da autoimagem e riscos de transtornos alimentares

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescence is characterized by great changes, such as biological, emotional and social. Changes can occur in the nutritional status and the weight increase is a main cause of body dissatisfaction. The fat gain becomes significant among girls and muscle mass gain, twice as higher among boys. Obese adolescents are more susceptible to body dissatisfaction, leading to a body denial since this does not fit according to the standards of beauty in fashion. Objectives: To identify the risks of eating disorders in adolescents and to correlate them with age, color, body mass index, cardiovascular risk and body image among the public and private schools. Casuistics and Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study of quantitative approach was carried out in two schools of São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo state: a public and private one. The sample comprised 546 female and male adolescents; 230 from public schools and 316 from private school. Female adolescents answered the Eating Attitude Test instrument (EAT-26), and to evaluate the body image of adolescents, Thompson and Gray silhouette scale was used. Anthropometric data weight, height and waist circumference were measured. Software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used, and the averages were compared by the Student t test, the proportions by Fisher test and associations, the Chi-Square test. Multiple correspondence analysis was used to observe the relationship between the variables collected from adolescents from public and private schools. The significance level used was 5% (p <0.05). Results: Out of the 230 adolescents from public schools most of them was older than 13 years; the adolescents with the nutritional status of overweight and obesity showed cardiovascular risk, dissatisfaction with body image to overweight and risk of dietary behavior for eating disorder. For nutritional status of Eutrophia, adolescents showed no cardiovascular risk, no risk for eating disorders and body image dissatisfaction to overweight. Students with body mass index of underweight showed no cardiovascular risk and no dissatisfaction to their body image to thinness. Out of the 316 adolescents from private school, the age was between 10 and 13 years; the nutritional status of Euthrophia and overweight did not show cardiovascular risk; they are dissatisfied with their body image to overweight and no dietary behavior for eating disorder. There are also students classified as obese body mass index that reported being dissatisfied with their body image to overweight with cardiovascular risk and risk behaviors for eating disorders. Low weight adolescents, no significant association for cardiovascular risk and risk behaviors for eating disorders, but are dissatisfied with their body image to thinness. All these associations were significant in both schools (p <0.001). Conclusion: The study identified adolescents with inappropriate dietary behavior, enhancing the need for