Percepção da imagem, satisfação corporal e autoestima de adolescentes do sexo feminino e sua relação com o estado nutricional.

Abstract

Objective: Verify the self-perception of image and body satisfaction, and self-esteem of female teenagers from pubic school at countryside state of Rio Grande do Sul, then associate it with their nutritional status. Strategies: A cross-sectional study was realized with female teenagers between twelve and fourteen years old. Self-perception (Silhouette scale), body satisfaction (body shape questionnaire) and self-esteem (Rosenberg self-esteem scale) questionnaires were applied. For obtaining nutritional status, weight and height were gauged. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze variables, then to compare perception and body image satisfaction with self-esteem and nutritional status the chi-square test was performed. Results: Thirty teenagers with mean age of 12,67 ±0,88 years participated, 56,7% of them were eutrophic, but only 46,7% perceived themselves in this nutritional status, followed by overweight perception. The absence of body dissatisfaction was obtained by 83.3%, and healthy self-esteem in 93.3% of female teenagers. The association between self-esteem and body perception was significant (p = 0.002) in the sense that, self-esteem was healthy in the low weight, eutrophic and overweight perception cases. Conclusion: The teenagers, for the most part, showed either body and self-esteem satisfaction, even those who weren’t eutrophic. This fact allows us to reflect on the distortion of the body perception, since those that were in nutritional state of obesity didn’t perceived themselves in this state. Early detection of body distortion at this stage is a strategy for the prevention and identification of eating disorders.