OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the body-checking, inappropriate eating attitudes and body dissatisfaction in undergraduate students from both sexes. METHODS: Five hundred eighty-seven undergraduate students (311 men) were surveyed. The body-checking behaviours (women - Body Checking Questionnaire; men - Male Body Checking Questionnaire), inappropriate eating attitudes (Eating Attitudes Test-26) and body dissatisfaction (Body Shape Questionnaire) were evaluated. Body mass and height were self-referred to calculate the body mass index (BMI). Descriptive, inferential and qui-square test (Fisher exact test) statistics were performed using the Statistic 8.0 software and adopting significant level of 5%. RESULTS: Body-checking behaviours are associated with inappropriate eating attitudes and body dissatisfaction in both sexes. Women and men showed differences between the variables evaluated, being higher in women. CONCLUSION: Body-checking is a present and high frequency behaviour in undergraduate students with risk for eating disorders and also with those dissatisfied with their body image.
Eating attitudes; body image; sex
