Body Image Perception among Adolescent students in a private School in Thrissur, Kerala

Abstract

Introduction: Body image perception is the way a person feels about his/her body and these feelings can be positive, negative or both. It is ever changing, and is influenced by individual and environmental factors. It can be both self-perceived or as perceived by others like family, friends, peer group, teachers etc. Objectives: To assess the body image perception of adolescents and the associated factors and to assess the effect of family, friends, peers and others on the body image perception of adolescents. Methodology: This was a cross sectional study. Four divisions from classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 of a private school, Thrissur were randomly selected. There were 179 students in total. A pretested self administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Results: The proportion of boys (50.3%) and girls (49.7%) were almost equal. In this study 65.4% of the adolescents were having normal BMI for their age.26.2% of the subjects had overweight and 8.4% of the subjects were undernourished. Varying degrees of negative body image perception was seen among 84.91% of subjects. Erroneous body size perception was seen among 36.8% of the subjects. This was statistically significant. A larger proportion of females (40.4%) compared to males (23.4%) was dissatisfied by their body size. Mean BMI was significantly higher in those who were not satisfied with their body size and those who had tried to lose weight in their past. Negative correlation was observed between body image perception and academic performance of the students. Conclusion: A high proportion of adolescents had negative body image perception. Targeted activities have to be carried out to improve their perception.