Abstract
M.A. (Psychology)
Body dysmorphic disorder is a somatoform disorder characterised by a
preoccupation with an imagined defect in appearance, causing clinically significant
distress or impairment in functioning. An electronic search of articles and
dissertations yielded no results on the prevalence of body dysmorphic disorder in
South Africa. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of body dysmorphic
disorder among 395 undergraduate students at an inner-city university.
Proportionate stratified random cluster sampling was used to select the sample.
The students completed a demographics survey and the Body Image Disturbance
Questionnaire. Results indicated an overall prevalence of 5.1%, which is similar to
prevalence rates reported in existing literature among student populations. No
clinically significant differences were found on the ,demographic variables of
gender, race or sexual orientation. However, students differed significantly in their
experience of the severity of the disorder in terms of age, such that students over
the age of 21 reported higher severity levels than did students under the age of 21.