Eating disorders are psychiatric conditions, which have as central questions the relationship between the individual and the diet. The major concern is the risk behaviors for eating disorders, which are extreme attitudes adopted by the individual aiming at reducing and / or controlling body weight and which can progress to the complete pictures of anorexia and / or bulimia nervosa. Risk behavior for disorders predate the classic disorders, and can cause physical and emotional damage, social isolation and bodily dissatisfaction. The present study aimed to identify risk behaviors for the development of anorexia and bulimia nervosa in high school adolescents in public schools in the city of Imperatriz-MA. It is a cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 440 adolescents, aged 14 to 19 years, of both sexes. Four self-applied instruments were used to collect data: Socioeconomic questionnaire; Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ); Bulimic Investigatory Edinburgh (BITE) and the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26). The nutritional status of the participants was also analyzed through the anthropometric parameters: weight, height and body mass index for age. Statistial analysis was performed with the STATA program, version 14.0. For the quantitative variables, measures of central tendency and dispersion were calculated. Qualitative variables were described in absolute and percentage frequencies. The Spearman correlation was caculated between the final scores of the EAT and BITE questionnaires after the data normality test (Shapiro Wilk). Pearson's Chi-square (X²) or Fisher's exact test was used to evaluate the associations between the categorical variables, considering a significance level of 5%. The results pointed to a predominantly female sample (62.95%), with a mean age of 16.4 ± 1.22 years and the most frequent age group was the final period of adolescence (17 to 19 years) with 62.5% %. The group was found to be predominantly eutrophic (80.91%), and satisfied with their body image (72.27%). Significant presence of symptoms suggestive of anorexia (25.45%) and bulimia nervosa (50.68% ) among high school students in the municipality of Imperatriz / MA, as well as a significant association (p-value ≤ 0.05) between these symptoms and the variables gender, body image and nutritional status, which allows to infer that such variables are possible risk factors for the development of these eating disorders in the study population. In addition to these variables, the final age range of adolescence was associated with bulimic symptoms (p = 0.046). This study demonstrated that the young population of Imperatriz / MA follows the same trend of other Brazilian regions.
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