title: Body image perception and mental health of in-school adolescents in Benin City, Nigeria.
abstract: Perception of one's physical appearance is important in the development of the concept of body image. Desire to achieve the unrealistic image of 'physical perfection' often make adolescents feel discontented; thus leading to mental health problems.
  
  
  
  To assess body image perception (BIP) and its relationship with mental health of secondary school adolescents in Benin City, Nigeria.
  
  
  
  The study was cross-sectional and descriptive, conducted in senior secondary schools in Benin City.
  
  
  
  Six hundred randomly selected subjects completed the 28-item General Health Questionnaire, the appearance evaluation (AE) and body areas satisfaction (BAS) subscales of the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ), and a sociodemographic data collection sheet. Cross tabulation of categorical variables and correlation analysis was performed by means of SPSS version 19.0, with level of significance set atP= 0.05.
  
  
  
  Two hundred and twenty three (36.7%) and 46.2% of the respondents were dissatisfied with their appearance and discrete aspects of their bodies, respectively. The prevalence of probable psychiatric morbidity was 35.4%. AE and BAS subscales of the MBSRQ had significant but weak negative correlation with psychiatric morbidity (r = -0.195,P= 0.000; r = -0.097,P= 0.018, respectively).
  
  
  
  BIP was significantly associated with psychiatric morbidity. Subjects who were less satisfied with their general appearance and discrete aspects of their body screened positive for general psychiatric morbidity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Health, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Alexander Ndubuisi
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Otakpor
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Health, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ehimigbai
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001828:Body Image; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health; D009549:Nigeria; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires