Investigation of the effect of body perception on obesity prejudice of university students living in dormitories between 18-24 years

ABSTRACT Body perception, which is defined as the satisfaction of individuals' body; It is a concept that covers the individual perception of many physiological, psychological and cultural elements. Obesity bias includes negative attitudes and behaviors, anxiety and anxiety towards obese people. Weakness and slim body are accepted worldwide, while obesity prevalence is gradually increasing; Stigma and bias towards obese individuals are also increasing. As a result, obese individuals can be adversely affected, especially in social life. It is thought that body perception that occurs in the society may affect obesity bias. This research was conducted to determine the relationship between body perception and obesity bias of 334 individuals between the ages of 18-24 and their nutritional status in the In the city center of T.R. Ministry of Youth and Sports Tekirdağ Dormitory. Sociodemographic and anthropometric features of individuals were taken with the question form created. Body Perception Scale was used to detect body perception, and the Obesity Bias Scale was used to measure obesity prejudices. The Body Perception Scale scores of individuals were evaluated as high body perception in the range of 136-200 and low body perception in the range of 135-40. The obesity bias scale, which can be scored from the lowest 27 to the highest 135 points, was accepted as 68 points and below, without bias, 69-84 points, and with a score of 85 and above. The average BCS score of individuals was 154,19 ± 22,39 and the average of GAMS-27 was 84,93 ± 12,10. When the body perceptions of the students participating in the study were examined, it was found that 18,9% of the students had low body perception and 81,1% had high body perception. When the obesity bias of the students was examined, it was observed that 6,3% of the students were biased, 43,1% were prone to bias and 50,6% were biased. When the relationship between students' BCS and GAMS-27 scores was evaluated, a negative correlation was observed between the scores. As a result, it is thought that body perception may positively affect obesity bias. Keywords: Body perception, Body image, Obesity bias, Obesity stigma, Nutritional status