Body dissatisfaction among women attending gym clubs

ABSTRACT Objective This study examined the level of body dissatisfaction in women denizens of gyms in the city of Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, evaluating how dissatisfaction was distributed and what its associated factors. Methods In the 26 academies randomly selected 257 women were interviewed between September 2014 to January 2015. The participants answered a questionnaire including body dissatisfaction outcome (Body Shape Questionnaire – BSQ-34), quality of life (WHOQOL-Bref) and behavioral characteristics, socioeconomic and demographic. Results Of all the women interviewed, 21.4% (95% CI 16.5 to 26.9) had some type of body dissatisfaction (scores greater than or equal to 110 points). The average value of BSQ score was 85.6 (SD ±27.4). In all, 67.3% of women said that the main reason which led them to practice exercises was aesthetics, and 63.8% had intended to do plastic surgery. After bivariate analysis was performed multivariate linear regression analysis. They remained associated with the outcome variables: practice exercises for aesthetic reasons (p = 0.005); body mass index (p < 0.001); self-perceived health (p = 0.002); intention to do plastic surgery (p = 0.005); and WHOQOL-Bref (p < 0.001). Conclusions Finally, despite the prevalence of body dissatisfaction of this study did not appear alarming values (21.4%), possibly due to the rigor of the instrument used, it is still a current topic of increasing interest and research, additional studies are needed to better understand the perception of body image, especially among women.