Abstract
Determining the comorbidity patterns leading to suffering behavioural eating disorders (BED) that are identifiable in the early stages of life, can help prevent their becoming chronic, as well as preventing the consequences deriving from the cost and effectiveness of intervention programs. The paper focuses mainly on analysing the association between behavioural/emotional risk factors and body image, body satisfaction and diet in school children, as well as confirming whether there are differences based on sex. Several questionnaires (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and several items of Health Behaviour in School-age Children) including these variables were distributed and completed by the 647 adolescents (16 year olds on average) who took part in the research project. The findings confirmed a differentiated risk profile in adolescent girls in that they had greater prevalence of emotional symptoms as a general psychopathological trait, although this was offset with their prosocial behaviour. Additionally, the findings also allowed us to conclude that the factors that predict vulnerability to BEDs are sex, the presence of emotional symptoms and social and behavioural issues. At the end of this paper, we discuss some implications and consequences that should be taken into account for future work.
Highlights
The relevance of detecting early risk factors to help clarify the origin and continuation of behavioural eating disorders (BED) is key for the early diagnosis and implementation of effective intervention strategies
It is essential to determine the indicators of the emotional and behavioural symptoms that might be associated with inadequate body representations and generate dissatisfaction in adolescents with their own bodies and, as a consequence, the need to resort to restoring actions
For the purposes of designing help programs, it is important to take into account the reasons why there are differentiated behavioural patterns in boys and girls, since girls tend to think their weight is adequate to a lesser extent and the distorted perception of their weight is rarely associated with the need to put on weight, but weight loss; boys, on the other hand, feel the opposite way
Summary
The relevance of detecting early risk factors to help clarify the origin and continuation of behavioural eating disorders (BED) is key for the early diagnosis and implementation of effective intervention strategies. This clinical situation is more of a priority in the younger population due to the lack of empiric evidence [1]. It is essential to determine the indicators of the emotional and behavioural symptoms that might be associated with inadequate body representations and generate dissatisfaction in adolescents with their own bodies and, as a consequence, the need to resort to restoring actions (weight-loss dieting and purging)
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