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Assessing the Prevalence of Body Dysmorphic Disorder in an Ethnically Diverse Group of Adolescents

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Abstract

We investigated the prevalence of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) in an ethnically diverse sample of adolescents (N = 566) using the Body Image Rating Scale, a brief self-report measure for assessing body dissatisfaction. Results showed that adolescent girls were more dissatisfied with their bodies than adolescent boys, and that African-Americans of both genders were less dissatisfied with their bodies than Caucasians, Asians, and Hispanics. The interaction between gender and ethnicity was not significant. We found an overall prevalence for BDD of 2.2%. Although these are the first data on the prevalence of BDD in an ethnically diverse group of adolescents, they are consistent with the other study on the prevalence of BDD in a predominantly Caucasian group of college students.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California

    Stephen Mayville (Graduate student)

  2. University of the Pacific, Stockton, California

    Roger C. Katz (Professor of Psychology) & Martin T. Gipson

  3. Psychology Department, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California

    Keri Cabral (Undergraduate student)

Authors
  1. Stephen Mayville
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  2. Roger C. Katz
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  3. Martin T. Gipson
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  4. Keri Cabral
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roger C. Katz.

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Mayville, S., Katz, R.C., Gipson, M.T. et al. Assessing the Prevalence of Body Dysmorphic Disorder in an Ethnically Diverse Group of Adolescents. Journal of Child and Family Studies 8, 357–362 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022023514730

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022023514730

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