‘Bad Boys’’ Bodies: The Embodiment of Troubled Lives. Body Image and Disordered Eating Among Adolescents in Residential Childcare Institutions

Abstract

Children residing in care (hereafter referred to as childcare residents) are a risk-group for emotional disturbances and behaviour problems. Based on existing knowledge of risk factors one would also expect this population to be a high-risk group for eating disorders and related body-image disorders. The objective of this study was to describe pathological eating behaviour, dysfunctional body focusing and psychological symptoms in a sample of childcare residents compared with a non-clinical sample. Sixty-one childcare residents (aged 14-21 years, mean 16.2) and a non-clinical comparison group ( n= 196) completed the Eating Disorders Inventory - Child version (EDI-C). The childcare residents also completed an extended questionnaire, including questions regarding the use of anabolic-androgenic steroids. Our main findings were high scores on EDI-C symptom scales for boys in the childcare resident group; few differences between girls in the two samples; and a high frequency of having used anabolic-androgenic steroids among boys in care. Body-image problems among boys have hitherto been given little attention. The results call for increased efforts in describing and detecting pathological cognitions, emotions and behaviour concerning the body in males in general and, more specifically, in high-risk male groups, such as childcare residents.