Abstract:

Background: Training is necessary in order to enable young people to opt for a healthy lifestyle, since they are going through a stage of biological and social transformations.

Objectives: To evaluate the satisfaction with the social support and body image of adolescents before and after the implementation of a formative intervention.

Methods: Action research conducted through an intervention training program on affectivity and sexuality, with a sample of 840 adolescents attending the 9th grade (441 male and 399 female). The average age was 14.4 years (± 0.85). The data gathering instrument includes a biographical questionnaire, the Social Support Satisfaction Scale (SSSS) and the Body Dissatisfaction Scale for Adolescents (BDSA) from Baile (2003).

Results: The study revealed the existence of significant differences concerning the dissatisfaction with body image before (t= -2.824; p= 0.005) and after (t= - 2.521; p= 0.012) the formative intervention; the girls were the more dissatisfied. There was no statistical significance concerning total social support before the formative intervention t= -1.474; p= 0.141), although the differences were evident after the intervention (t= -3.311; p= 0.001). However, the analysis of the social support subscales concluded that the satisfaction with friendship before (t= -2.521; p= 0.012) and after (t= -2.631; p= 0.009) the intervention was significant, as well as the intimacy after the formation (t= -2.631; p= 0.009); the girls were the more dissatisfied.
On the other hand, the results allow us to conclude that before and after the formative intervention there was no statistic significance for the total sample, concerning body dissatisfaction (t= 0.755; p= 0.450); in contrast, there was a tendency for higher social support before than after the intervention related to total social support (t= 5.302; p= 0.000), satisfaction towards friendship (t= 5.969; p= 0.000), intimacy (t=3.519; p= 0.000) and satisfaction towards the family (t= 2.901; p= 0.000). Concerning the social activities of social support (t= 0.517; p= 0.606), the differences were not explainable.

Conclusion:
The results suggest that, in spite of the expected, the formative intervention contributes to higher dissatisfaction with body image among female adolescents. However, the formative intervention was considered useful and positive related to social support by the whole sample.

Keywords:

Adolescents, Body Image, Social Support.