Objective

To compare the relationship between the Perception of the Body Image and the Body Mass Index in secondary school students of two municipalities of Yucatán.

Material and Methods

Quantitative and cross-sectional study, with a population of 462 students aged from 11 to 17 belonging to schools in the municipalities of Abalá and Chacsinkin, Yucatán. Body weight and height were taken; Body Mass Index (BMI) by age was calculated according to the patterns of the World Health Organization (WHO) for adolescents. Body image perception was determined by means of the Body Image Perception Analysis (BPI) instrument proposed by Stunkard and Stellard and modified by Collins. For the inferential statistical analysis, the Chi-square test with a statistical significance value of 5% was used.

Results

62.9% of adolescents have a normal Body Mass Index; while 35.6% have a combined prevalence of obesity and overweight. Regarding Perception of Body Image, 28.8% of adolescents were perceived according to their real BMI; 25.3% were perceived with BMI greater than the real and 45.9% were perceived with BMI lower than they actually have

Conclusions

In the municipality of Abalá, adolescents presented a higher prevalence of normal weight and excess weight; higher frequency of concordance between body perception and real BMI and overestimation of their BMI, unlike the higher frequency of underestimation that occurred in adolescents in the municipality of Chacsinkin Adolescents in both municipalities with excess weight underestimated their BMI and they did not identify it as a health problem, which represents an area of opportunity for the work of the multidisciplinary health team.