Dissatisfaction with body image and associated factors in university students

ABSTRACT Objective To assess the prevalence of dissatisfaction with body image and associated factors among university students in the health field. Methods This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach, with 364 students enrolled in five health courses. To obtain the data, six self-administered instruments were used: socioeconomic, demographic and lifestyle habits adapted from Vigitel, the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ), the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Anthropometric measurements were also collected. The association between the studied variables and dissatisfaction with body image was verified by bivariate analysis followed by logistic regression, with robust variance. Results There was a prevalence of body image dissatisfaction of 9.1% among university students. The variables that, after multiple analysis, were associated with a higher prevalence of dissatisfaction with body image were: non-white skin color, undergoing treatment to lose weight, presence of attitudes towards eating disorder, regular/poor health status, moderate/severe anxiety and waist circumference. Conclusion It is concluded that the prevalence of dissatisfaction with body image in university students was low, however, sociodemographic factors, lifestyle, health status and clinical and anthropometric conditions were shown to be associated with the prevalence of dissatisfaction with body image.