TITLE:
Socio-Demographic, Biopsychosocial and Lifestyle Behaviors Related with Eating Disorders of Children and Adolescents of Costa Rica
AUTHORS:
Núñez-Rivas Hilda Patricia, Holst-Schumacher Ileana, Campos-Saborío Natalia
KEYWORDS:
Eating Disorders, Behaviors, Children, Adolescents, Costa Rica
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.10 No.8,
August
26,
2019
ABSTRACT: The objective of the study was to evaluate the association of sociodemographic,
biopsychosocial and lifestyle behaviors (diet, sedentarism and physical
activity) with eating disorders (ED) in a national sample of Costa Rican
children and adolescents. This was a cross-sectional and descriptive study. A
total of 2667 students of elementary, middle and high school from sixty-four
educative centers (40 schools and 24 high schools) of Costa Rica participated
in the study. The predictive factors associated with ED are: body image
dissatisfaction (β = 0.367; p β = 0.131; p β = 0.109; p 0.001),
intentionally hurt or harm itself (β = 0.074; p β = 0.053; p β = 0.052; p β = 0.051; p β = -0.071; p β = -0.068; p = 0.010) and the age (β = -0.064; p = 0.001) are not related with the
development of ED. Psychosocial factors (body image dissatisfaction and
intentionally self-injure) had the greatest influence (near 27%) of the global
variance of the regression model that explained the association with ED.
Programs should be promoted to monitor children and adolescents with excess
weight, as well as, the coexistence of erroneous weight and body image
perceptions in these population. This could protect against the development of
ED in children and adolescents. Evidence-Based
Medicine: Level V of evidence (descriptive study).