摘要：Interest in studies on changes in the perception of body image is increasing. However, not enough objective methods by which perception can be evaluated have been developed. This study sets out to evaluate the perception of body image on a group of young adults by using anatomical models, and to compare this perception with the actual values of body mass index (BMI). Seven anatomical models have been designed for each sex, with BMI values of 18, 22, 25, 27, 30, 35 and 40 kg/m2. Each person from a sample of 158 individuals (93 women and 65 men; aged, 18-30 y) had to choose the model with which they most closely identified. Subsequently their height and weight were measured and their BMI calculated and compared with their perceived BMI.
52,3% of men and 38,7% of women choose models corresponding to their real BMI, men percibe themselfs better than women. In general, women saw themselves as being fatter (41,1%) than they really were while men saw themselves as being thinner (29,2%) than they really were. The degree of overweight and obesity influences perception, whereby the most corpulent, of both sexes, see themselves as thinner than they really are.
关键词：self-perception of body image, body mass index, anatomical models.
