Insatisfação corporal em uma coorte de crianças e adolescentes acompanhados por três anos : associação com círculo social, fatores sociodemográficos e excesso de peso.

Abstract

Introduction: The changes in habits and lifestyles in recent decades demonstrate an increase in the number of overweight children and adolescents who are dissatisfied with their bodies. Body dissatisfaction is linked to negative consequences and favors the development of eating disorders, thus, it can lead to unhealthy behaviors, including during childhood and adolescence. Overall objective: To evaluate the longitudinal role of social circle, sociodemographic factors, and overweight on body dissatisfaction in children and adolescents after three years. Objective Article 1: To verify the associations of sociodemographic factors and body dissatisfaction in children and adolescents over three years of follow-up. Methods: A longitudinal quantitative study that used data from two completed surveys: "School Health - Phase II", which occurred in 2011/2012, and "School Health - Phase III", developed in 2014/2015. The information regarding socioeconomic conditions and body satisfaction of 447 children and adolescents of both genders, aged between seven and 17 years, from public and private schools, both in urban and rural areas of a city in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil, were analyzed. The analyses used were: absolute and relative frequency to describe the sample and verify the incidence of change in body satisfaction after three years and multinominal regression to verify the associations between demographic factors and body dissatisfaction after three years. Results: It was possible to verify that 30% of the participants were dissatisfied at baseline, wanting to decrease weight. Children from urban areas of the city were 3.80 more likely to be dissatisfied than those who lived in rural areas. Children and adolescents with high-medium socioeconomic status were 0.21 less likely to change their perception from satisfied to dissatisfied. Final considerations: Finally, it was possible to verify that children and adolescents of high-medium and high socioeconomic level had less chances of changing their perception from satisfied to dissatisfied after three years. In this sense, it was possible to analyze the perceptions of the participants, visualizing specific problems, which may facilitate the projection of strategies that best fit the reality of individuals. Article 2: Objective: To verify whether there were changes in body satisfaction in children and adolescents followed longitudinally for three years, as well as to verify whether there are associations between body mass index (BMI) and social circle with body dissatisfaction of these participants after this follow-up. Method: a quantitative, longitudinal-retrospective study, which used data from the research "Schoolchildren's Health - Phase II", which occurred in 2011/2012, and "Schoolchildren's Health - Phase III", developed in 2014/2015. We used information from 447 children and adolescents of both genders, aged between seven and 17 years, from public and private schools, both in urban and rural areas of a city in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul (RS). Results: It was possible to visualize in this study that subjects classified as underweight or normal weight had more chances than expected of remaining dissatisfied, wanting to increase their weight. As for the girls, they presented higher chances of feeling dissatisfied with their body weight, wanting to increase it. Furthermore, in this research, there was no association between social circle and body dissatisfaction. Final considerations: In this study, social circle did not interact with body dissatisfaction. However, it should be noted that the number of participants who were and remained dissatisfied was high, thus it becomes increasingly important to discuss the topic and think of strategies that can improve body satisfaction of children and adolescents. Final considerations of the dissertation: With the advances and social and technological modifications that have been happening, discussing how bodies can be perceived, especially about being satisfied with it or not, is of utmost importance, because it allows us to highlight their plurality. Understanding how children and adolescents perceive themselves, as well as how they understand the relationships in their social circle, BMI, and sociodemographic factors can directly influence body perception, and discussing this issue makes it possible to take actions to increase body satisfaction and/or manage cases of dissatisfaction.