Relação entre fatores familiares e sociais e o comportamento alimentar perturbado de adolescentes e jovens adultos

Abstract

Several sociocultural, family, and individual factors have already been identified and described in the literature as predictors or risk factors for the development of disordered eating behavior, which can lead to eating disorders. Recently, resilience has been the subject of study in various populations, due to its potential protective effect. Thus, the present research aims to investigate the potential mediating effect of resilience between family climate, perceived sociocultural pressure, negative comments about weight and eating, and disordered eating behavior in adolescents and young adults, as well as explore differences in these variables according to gender and age group. This is a nonexperimental, cross-sectional, correlational, and predictive study. A total of 342 participants, aged between 12 and 24 years (M=19.35; SD=4.24), participated in this study, responding to a set of self-report questionnaires on the variables in question. The results showed that resilience did not serve as a mediator between any of the presented variables and disordered eating behavior. Resilience and family climate showed a strong positive correlation. Family climate, perceived sociocultural pressure (especially from the media), and negative comments predicted disordered eating behavior. Girls and young adults exhibited higher levels of disordered eating behavior than boys and adolescents, respectively. This study is inconsistent with the existing literature regarding the role of resilience in the context of eating behavior and also provides suggestions for future research and future prevention or intervention programs in this same context.

Date of Award	7 Nov 2023
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Rita Francisco (Supervisor)