Body dysmorphic disorder and physical appearance perfectionism in brazilian university students
Abstract
Body dysmorphic disorder is a disorder which its symptoms developed in adolescence, but it is only diagnosed in the adulthood. Being worried about body areas, presenting obsessive thought and compulsive behaviors are some of the common symptoms in this mental disorder. This paper aimed to analyze the relationship between the presence of body dysmorphic symptomatology, physical appearance perfectionism, gender and minority sexual orientation in a sample of Brazilian university students. A total of 489 students from 16 Brazilian states participated in the present study by answering an online questionnaire. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the genders in physical appearance perfectionism means and minority sexual orientation scored higher in the physical appearance perfectionism scale. In logistic regression, physical appearance perfectionism was considered a high predictor for body dysmorphic disorder. It was concluded that, when taking into account the aforementioned variables, only perfectionism was able to predict body dysmorphic disorder. The study is nationally scientific relevant once it is the first to analyze physical appearance perfectionism as a predictor factor for body dysmorphic disorder.
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