Body dissatisfaction (BD) is a primary determinant of eating disorders and has been linked to chronic disease via decreased likelihood of cancer screening self-exams and smoking cessation. Yet, there are few recent estimates of the prevalence of BD among United States adults. Using an internet-based, opt-in, cross-sectional survey, United States adults (N = 1893) completed assessments of demographic variables, body areas satisfaction, appearance evaluation, fitness evaluation, health evaluation, and overweight preoccupation. Results revealed that the range of BD is 13.4%–31.8% among women and 9.0%–28.4% among men. Compared to previous assessments of prevalence (1973, 1986, 1995, 1997), the prevalence of BD among United States adults may have plateaued or declined over time.
Body image is defined as a persons body-related self-perceptions and self-attitudes, including thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (Cash, 2003). In some cases, extreme levels of body dissatisfaction (BD) can result in eating disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa), which have a lifetime prevalence of 2.5% and 0.8% for United States women and men, respectively (Hudson, Hiripi, Pope, & Kessler, 2007). For those who seek treatment, annual treatment costs range from $US 1288 to $US 8042 per person, per year (Stuhldreher et al., 2012). BD is also known to negatively influence behavioral risk factors for chronic disease, which affect an even greater proportion of the US population. For example, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, with a lifetime prevalence of 12.3% (Howlader et al., 2013). A recent literature review demonstrates that BD is associated with lower likelihood of engaging in breast cancer self-exams (Ridolfi & Crowther, 2013), which could provide early detection of the disease. BD is also associated with lower likelihood of smoking cessation (King et al., 2005), where smoking costs $US 96.8 billion annually in lost productivity and is responsible for almost 30% of cancer deaths (Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, 2008).
