Eating problems and body image among Finnish adolescents

Objective To study prevalence of self-reported body image and eating distress symptoms among Finnish adolescents, and to study associations between psychopathology, body image and eating distress. Design Cross-sectional population-based, survey subjects, 7th to 9th grade students aged 13–15: 3154 in Finland in 2014. Methods Data were collected by student self-reported questionnaire including scale designed for evaluating attitudes and behaviors towards body shape and eating, and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for assessing emotional and behavioral problems. Results The female adolescents reported much more dissatisfaction and concerns with their bodies than the males, high levels of distress with body emotional, behavioral and peer problems measured with SDQ. Body image and eating problems were higher in Finnish than Japanese females with peer problems. Conclusion The finding was in accordance with previous studies that found that body image and eating distress are associated with to gender and wide range of psychiatric problems.