The world of adolescents is increasingly under pressure, and among the emerging challenges, the relationship with one’s body and self-image play a crucial role. A recent study, conducted by The Bridge Foundation as part of the Food For Fine project of Terre des Hommes Italia, supported by Con i bambini, sheds an alarming light on this reality. The investigation, entitled “In search of perfection: the psychological well-being of Lombard adolescents told by girls and boys”involved 415 students and 69 teachers from secondary schools in Milan, Monza, Como, Varese and Lecco, revealing a picture of profound and widespread discomfort.
The body: a terrain of discomfort and the search for ideal “thinness”.
For many young people, the body has become a battlefield, an entity to be measured, corrected and controlled in a constant pursuit of often unattainable models of perfection. The survey highlights how self-image, aesthetic pressure, comparison on social networks and exposure to digital content heavily influence the well-being of adolescents, with a particularly severe impact on girls.
The most emblematic fact is that for one in four teenagers, a beautiful body is first and foremost “thin”. The term occurs 94 times when students are asked to associate two words with the idea of a “beautiful body”. A worrying fact, especially if you consider that only 20% of young people associate a beautiful body with health. Although 77% practice physical activity, the desire to improve or maintain physical fitness goes hand in hand with pleasure, indicating a clear attention to aesthetics.
The crushing weight of aesthetic pressure on girls
The gender gap is one of the most evident aspects that emerged from the research. Girls report significantly lower levels of psychological well-being than their male peers in almost all dimensions examined: body satisfaction, serenity in the relationship with food and general psychological well-being. The body satisfaction index for girls stands at an alarming 2.47 out of 5 (well below the problematic threshold set at 3), compared to 2.99 for boys, which although fragile, is closer to sufficient. The psychological well-being of girls, with an index of 2.87, is also below the threshold, while for boys it reaches 3.29. Pressure on body image is therefore a reality that affects the entire adolescent population, but weighs disproportionately on young women.
Food: from nourishment to a source of anxiety and release
If for many people food is still associated with pleasure and nourishment (59.5% links it to words such as “pizza”, “taste”, “hunger”; 54% with “good”, “happiness”), an equally significant fact is that for approximately one teenager in five (20.5%) food is linked to discomfort, anxiety, fear or venting. Added to this is a further 13.7% who associate it with weight control, calories or diet. Exposure to social content plays a key role: adolescents who see advertisements for diets or supplements more often report lower psychological well-being scores, a clear sign of how much social media can fuel a picture of greater fragility.
About half of adolescents know peers who use supplements to lose weight or improve physical appearance, but only 18% admit to using them directly. This highlights a widespread perception, but also a reticence in personal admission, perhaps due to stigma.
Teachers on the front line, but without adequate training
School emerges as one of the main observers of adolescent distress. 92.8% of teachers noticed an increase in concentration difficulties, 85.5% noted depressive episodes and 79.7% an increase in panic attacks. Even more worrying is the fact that almost 7 out of 10 teachers have had suspected or diagnosed cases of eating disorders in their classrooms in the last three years. However, a serious lack of training emerges: almost 50% of teachers admit that they know “little” or “nothing” about the topic of nutritional disorders, and only 5.8% have received specific training on the school’s initiative.
As Luisa Brogonzoli, coordinator of the Study Center of The Bridge Foundation, points out:
The discomfort is more widespread than adults perceive and it is not a question of passing dissatisfaction or whims, but rather systemic signals that call into question the school, families and services. The school represents an irreplaceable observatory, but the data on teachers is as worrying as that on students: they know that the problem exists, but sometimes they feel they don’t have the necessary tools. Knowledge and training are the first act of prevention
Federica Giannotta, head of Advocacy and Italian Programs at the Terre des Hommes Italia ETS Foundation, adds:
These data tell us that, for many adolescents, the body has become a terrain of effort, comparison and control: we are not just talking about nutrition, but about self-image, self-esteem, aesthetic pressure, social networks and often unattainable models of perfection. The data on girls, in particular, requires us to intervene soon. School is a fundamental place to intercept these signals, but it cannot be left alone. Food For Fine was created precisely for this reason, to prevent and combat nutrition and eating disorders among adolescents before the discomfort becomes an emergency
It is clear that a synergistic commitment is necessary from all the actors involved, to guarantee adolescents the tools and support necessary to face the challenges of body image and promote authentic and lasting psychological well-being.
