Too fat, too small, too thin … Many teenage girls have a negative and often erroneous image of their body. However, these young girls would also be more likely to experiment with alcohol in a riskier way.
A study conducted by the United States Center for Disease Prevention and Control and published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, looked specifically at the links between self-perception and alcohol in girls aged 14-18. 6,579 American teenage girls responded to the National Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey, which includes questions about body vision and alcohol consumption, among other things.
No more massive alcoholic drinks
On the sample, 37.5% of young girls have a poor perception of their body image leading to negative behavior towards it. This can include trying to lose or gain weight when it is not medically justified. More than two-thirds of teenage girls surveyed have already had at least one drink of alcohol, and 17.8% have experienced a heavy drinking episode in the past 30 days.
In young girls who have a poor perception of their body, the episodes of binge-drinking are 1.22 times more numerous, and they are more likely than their peers of the same age to have already experimented with alcohol.
Amalgamation between alcohol and body worship
In the United States, alcohol is the most widely consumed addictive substance among adolescents. In addition, the culture of the regime is spreading, which can lead, according to the researchers, to some confusion among young people. The next step in the study will be to determine how the relationship between alcohol and body perception is created, and what promotes it. Alcohol could be a defense strategy or a way to lose or gain weight.
The authors indicate that “it is not possible to conclude whether respondents use alcohol to modify their weight, or as a technique to feel more socially accepted and therefore better with themselves”.
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