Resumo

LACUNZA, Ana Betina et al. Obesity and personality characteristics in adolescents from Argentina and Spain: A cross-cultural study. Rev. Mex. de trastor. aliment [online]. 2019, vol.10, n.1, pp.10-21. ISSN 2007-1523.  https://doi.org/10.22201/fesi.20071523e.2019.1.488.

The objectives of this study were: 1. To compare the presence of overweight and obesity in adolescents from Argentina vs. Spain, 2. To compare personality according to nutritional diagnosis (ND) and place of residence (PR), and 3. To identify the presence of psychopathological risk (PR). A total of 272 adolescents, men and women from 11 to 16 years completed the Personality Questionnaire for Children of Eysenck (EPQ-J) and body mass index was calculated through height and weight measures. The 39% of the Spanish adolescents and 43% of the Argentinians presented overweight or obesity, two clinical groups were formed, one per country and both control groups were constituted by the normal weight participants. The combination of the variables ND and PR did not show significant differences in terms of personality dimensions. However, both clinical groups presented greater neuroticism (NE) than their control peers. Regarding the PR, the Argentine adolescents registered higher NE and emotional hardness (4% of high risk) than 3% of high risk of NE in the Spanish. The data obtained did not allow to establish a psychopathological profile of the overweight or obese adolescent, this is because the influence of the country of origin prevailed.

Palavras-chave : Nutritional diagnosis; Obesity; Overweight; Psychopathological risk; Personality profile.