Anthropometric profile and body dissatisfaction of university students

Body weight may exert influence on risk behaviors for eating disorders and studies show that changes in body mass index may generate dissatisfaction with body image. This study evaluated the anthropometric profile and body dissatisfaction of university students in the health area. University students of both genders, aged between 18 and 54, participated in the study. Characterization, anthropometric and body dissatisfaction data were collected. The anthropometric measurements were weight, height, waist circumference and neck circumference. Body dissatisfaction was assessed by the Body Shape Questionnaire. The database and statistical analysis was performed and stored in a spreadsheet in the program Microsoft Excel, version 2010. The variables were described in the forms of means and standard deviations. Student's t test was used for the association between the variables and for comparison of the means. The statistical significance was set at p <0.05. Participants were aged between 18 and 54 years, of which 87.4% were female. Of these, 61% were eutrophic and 14.9% presented some type of body dissatisfaction. When estimating the association between BMI and BSQ, it was seen that the higher the classification of this index the higher the BSQ scores. Therefore, it is noted that self-perception of body shape is an important aspect of people's lives. In this perspective, the study contributes to these aspects being included in future studies to better investigate them.