Body image dissatisfaction: Prevalence and relation to body mass index among female medical students in Taibah University, 2011

Abstract

Background Body image has been defined as the person's perceptions, thoughts, and feelings about his body. Body image dissatisfaction is a problem of growing concern that affects psychological wellbeing. Objectives This study aims to estimate the prevalence of body image dissatisfaction, identify its underlying risk factors, and explore the relation between actual, perceived and desired BMI among female medical students in Taibah University, KSA. Method This is a cross-sectional survey that involved 242 participants. Data were collected using a nine figure silhouette rating scale for assessing body image dissatisfaction, a self-administered questionnaire for identifying possible factors contributing to dissatisfaction, and measurement of the participants' weight and height to calculate their actual BMI. Results Of all participants: 26.4% were satisfied, 18.6% perceived self as too thin, while 55% perceived self as too heavy. There has been a significant association between the degree of satisfaction and the following factors; actual BMI, family influence, friends' criticism, unreal self-perception and feeling of disproportional body parts (at P