Abstract :
Background: Body image is the dynamic perception of one’s body. Body image perception depends on
anthropometric and psychological factors. Body dissatisfaction is influenced by the socio-cultural environment
and is associated with eating disorders and low self-esteem.
Ojectives: To study the body image perception among undergraduate female students in a medical college.
Materials And Methods: It is a cross-sectional study conducted among 239 undergraduate female medical
students. It was conducted during December 2015-January 2016 in one of the medical colleges in Mangalore.
A 34 item Body Shape Questionnaire(BSQ) along with the details on socio-demography was collected
using a validated questionnaire. The 34-item BSQ measures body image concern through a 6-point Likertscale. The scores are classified into 4 categories: satisfied (not worried) about body shape (140). The data so obtained
was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0.
Results: Median age of the students was 20 years.64% of them were in the age group of 20-26 years.50%
of them were from Karnataka. According to the BSQ it was seen that up to 32.6% were dissatisfied with
themselves. No association was noted between the body image perception and place of origin or age
groups of the subjects. But a significant association was noted between body image perception and subjects
avoiding communal changing rooms and self consciousness.
Conclusion: With adequate health education people can be made aware that being dissatisfied with their
body images could lead to adverse health events like anorexia nervosa and bulimia. A number of potential
factors that may help to protect against negative body image or prevent negative body image exist.
Keyword :
BSQ, Body Image, Medical Students, Mangalore