Introduction:

excessive malnutrition causes overweight and obesity, being a public health problem, which has occurred in the first years of life. Research has reported the existence of body dissatisfaction related to weight, due to beauty standards established in society.

Objective:

to associate the BMI with body dissatisfaction and body image perception of schoolchildren.

Materials and methods:

cross-sectional study of 610 schoolchildren. Nutritional status was classified according to the BMI z score. To determine body dissatisfaction and body image perception, a child body image scale of seven photographs was applied, with a value of 1 to 7 according to the increasing size, and the final range of the BMI. The difference between the figure that participants considered ideal, and the perceived body shape was calculated.

Results:

47.3% were overweight and obese. Body dissatisfaction was higher in overweight and obese girls (p = 0.013). BMI correlated with body dissatisfaction (rho (608) = 0.480; p < 0.001) and body image perception (rho (608) = 0.433; p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

BMI was positively related to body dissatisfaction and body image perception; this could increase the risk of developing eating disorders, contribute to the maintenance of excess body weight, as it is not perceived with excess weight, are less likely to take actions to control it.