Body image and body composition in students from two secondary education school...

• Author(s): Rebelo, Filipa ; Santos, Marisa ; Fernandes, António ; Ferro-Lebres, Vera
• Date: 2014
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/9545
• Origin: Biblioteca Digital do IPB
• Subject(s): Body image; Body composition; Secondary education; Students; Bragança city; Portugal
• Document Type: Conference Object
• Language: English

Description

Introduction Adolescence is a period of life characterized by physical, emotional and social changes. The changes observed in the look and body composition lead to a restructuring of body image. Objective To study the correlation between body image and body composition (% of fat mass) in adolescents from two high schools located in Braganza city, Portugal. Methods A cross-sectional, quantitative, observational and analytical study was developed. To carry out this study, a sample of 282 adolescents was collected. These adolescents were aged between 15 and 19 years, and were enrolled in the academic year (2012/2013). The adolescents were assessed for body image through the Body Image Questionnaire; and, the distribution of fat mass was measured using SECA bioelectrical impedance balance. To do the data treatment, SPSS 21.0 statistical program was used as well as the Spearman test. Results The average body fat percentage was higher in females (27.7%) compared to males (19.2%). Females showed a higher prevalence in all categories of body image distortion. And among the female students, 14.5% had a minor distortion, 9.9% had a moderate distortion and 6.9% had a severe distortion. Among the male students, 3.3% had a minor distortion, 4.6% had a moderate distortion and 2.0% had a severe distortion. A moderate correlation between body image and body fat percent was observed (Spearman correlation coefficient = 0.535). Conclusions Female adolescents had a mean of body fat percentage above the male gender. There was found a moderate correlation between body image and body fat percentage.