SUMMARY

The puberal change, among other facts, involves the development of the body and along with it the silhouette of the teenager. The changes experienced by the teenagers lead them to pay much more attention to their body image. They must proceed and proceed to take a closer look at their bodies from an esthetic point of view. If their body image, the body they believe they have, matches the acquired ideal body models, they will feel satisfied with their bodies and themselves. If not, they will experience body dissatisfaction and their self-esteem will drop.
Mainly, the girls wish to be thin; the boys aim at increasing their muscle mass. Both of them do nothing but follow the culturally framed aesthetic models. But this implies that many girls feeling dissatisfied with their bodies try to lose weight and plenty of males try to gain it. When the attempts to modify the weight affect the nutrition, the so-called eating disorders (ED) can take place: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorders and some other ones. Since the girls are the ones that experience greater body dissatisfaction and go on more restrictive diets, they are more prone to suffer this type of disorders.

But there are many factors that have to do with the genesis of an ED and contribute to it. In spite of the powerful influence of the cultural aesthetic models, the main predisposition factor is the genetic one. This influence takes place through the role that the biological inheritance plays in the appearance of different risk factors for such disorders: serotonergic system dysfunctions, stress sensitivity, precocious puberty, high body mass index, high neuroticism, impulsiveness, obsessiveness, damage avoidance, etc.

However, for these factors to give rise to an ED it is precise that, the teenagers that are worried about their weight and their body go on low-calorie diets. In most cases, this worry has to do with the assumption on the part of the teenager of the current esthetic model. This model has been and is being transmitted to them through several social agents, basically their families, their classmates and, above all, the social mass media. Also, the search for a better sports performance or the practice of esthetic sports like gymnastics, dance, and others can lead to risk eating behaviors.
In recent years, the influence of other factors has been verified, concretely, disorders and problems during the pregnancy, the labor and the first life stages. The experimentation of symptoms or depressive disorders also predispose to the ED, especially to the bulimia nervosa. Male homosexuality is another risk factor.

Once the ED has appeared, its social and psychological consequences, but above all the nutritious ones, are factors of maintenance and worsening of the disorder, and therefore a noticeable therapeutic obstacle. Nevertheless, the main obstacle is the lack of consciousness over the disorder on behalf of many patients, especially the ones who suffer anorexia nervosa.