[Assessment of self-perceived body image in female adolescents aged 12-21 years in the city of Reus (Spain)]. / Valoración de la propia imagen corporal en adolescentes femeninas de 12 a 21 años de la ciudad de Reus.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the degree of body image distortion in female adolescents and evaluate its association with the social esthetic model and the adoption of dietary measures. METHOD: We performed a cross sectional, observational study in a random sample of female adolescents aged 12 to 21 years old. Information was gathered via two different sources. A structured questionnaire including sociodemographic and anthropometric items was administered to determine adolescents' desire to resemble advertising models, their satisfaction with trouser size, and whether they would follow an unsupervised diet, etc. A game consisting of 9 images of female shapes of increasing size was used to evaluate self-perceived body image. The subjects chose the shape they believed most closely resembled their own. RESULTS: A sample of 401 subjects with a mean age of 17.6 (standard deviation = 2.6) years was evaluated. Seventy-five percent had normal weight, 11% were overweight, 13% were obese, and 0.8% were underweight. A total of 76.8% of the subjects had distorted body image and wished to look like advertising models (p < 0.001), 47.7% were dissatisfied with their trouser size (p < 0.001), and 15.3% were following special diets without supervision (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The majority of adolescents aged between 13 and 21 years old were dissatisfied with their body image. A distorted body image translates into wanting to resemble advertising models and dissatisfaction with trouser size, which in turn leads to following unsupervised diets.

Valoración de la propia imagen corporal en adolescentes femeninas de 12 a 21 años de la ciudad de Reus / Assessment of self-perceived body image in female adolescents aged 12-21 years in the city of Reus (Spain)

Objetivo. Determinar el grado de distorsión de la autoimagen corporal en adolescentes femeninas, y evaluar su asociación con el modelo estético-social y la adopción de medidas dietéticas. Método. Estudio observacional y transversal. Muestra aleatoria poblacional de adolescentes femeninas de entre 12 y 21 años de edad. La información fue recogida a través de 2 fuentes: mediante un cuestionario estructurado sobre datos sociodemográficos y antropométricos (deseo de parecerse a las modelos publicitarias, satisfacción con la talla de pantalón que usaban, si realizaban dietas sin supervisión, etc.) y valoración de la autopercepción de la propia imagen corporal mediante un juego de 9 imágenes de siluetas femeninas de anchura creciente. Resultados. Se analizaron 401 adolescentes con una media de edad de 17,6 años (desviación estándar = 2,6). En cuanto al peso, el 75,3% tenía normopeso, el 11% sobrepeso, el 13% obesidad y el 0,8% bajopeso. Respecto a la percepción de la imagen, el 76,8% presentaba distorsión de la autoimagen corporal y le gustaba parecerse a las modelos publicitarias (p < 0,001). El 47,7% no estaba de acuerdo con la talla de pantalón que usaba (p < 0,001). El 15,3% realizaba dieta sin supervisión (p < 0,001). Conclusiones. La mayoría de adolescentes en edades comprendidas entre 13 y 21 años no está conforme con su imagen corporal. La distorsión de la autoimagen corporal se traduce en querer parecerse más a las modelos publicitarias y a no estar satisfechas con sus tallas de pantalón. Esto las lleva a la realización de dietas sin supervisión

Objective. To assess the degree of body image distortion in female adolescents and evaluate its association with the social esthetic model and the adoption of dietary measures. Method. We performed a cross sectional, observational study in a random sample of female adolescents aged 12 to 21 years old. Information was gathered via two different sources. A structured questionnaire including sociodemographic and anthropometric items was administered to determine adolescents' desire to resemble advertising models, their satisfaction with trouser size, and whether they would follow an unsupervised diet, etc. A game consisting of 9 images of female shapes of increasing size was used to evaluate self-perceived body image. The subjects chose the shape they believed most closely resembled their own. Results. A sample of 401 subjects with a mean age of 17.6 (standard deviation 5 2.6) years was evaluated. Seventy-five percent had normal weight, 11% were overweight, 13% were obese, and 0.8% were underweight. A total of 76.8% of the subjects had distorted body image and wished to look like advertising models (p < 0.001), 47.7% were dissatisfied with their trouser size (p < 0.001), and 15.3% were following special diets without supervision (p < 0.001). Conclusions. The majority of adolescents aged between 13 and 21 years old were dissatisfied with their body image. A distorted body image translates into wanting to resemble advertising models and dissatisfaction with trouser size, which in turn leads to following unsupervised diets