Insatisfacción corporal y actitudes alimentarias alteradas en adolescentes de Portugal y España

Cross-cultural studies comparing eating attitudes among adolescents from southern-European countries are scarce. We aimed to compare body-dissatisfaction, disordered-eating attitudes, awareness and internalisation of the unrealistic-body-ideal, self-esteem, perfectionism and impulsivity among adolescents from Spain and Portugal. Participants were 249 Spanish and 206 Portuguese adolescents (51.2% girls) aged 12-15 (M= 13.3 years, SD= 0.6). A 2 × 2 (country × sex) MANOVA was conducted for each self-reported measure. Girls scored higher on awareness and internalisation of the unrealistic-body-ideal, body-dissatisfaction, disordered-eating attitudes and lower on self-esteem than boys did. Regarding the country, Portuguese adolescents scored higher than Spaniards on eating disorder attitudes, impulsivity and perfectionism. Our findings show significant differences between country and gender, highlighting the importance of specific gender-oriented prevention strategies.