RESUMO
Objective To explore the prevalence of subthreshold body dysmorphic disorder in an undergraduates sample and investigate the mediating role of self-esteem on big five personality and body image disturbance.Methods A sample of 1 166 undergraduates coming from four different colleges were recruited to complete questionnaire survey.Results The prevalence of subthreshold body dysmorphic disorder in undergraduates was 6.2％.Body image disturbance(35.2± 18.4) was negatively correlated with self-esteem ((29.0±4.3),r=-0.41,P＜0.01),positively correlated with neuroticism ((32.9±8.1),r=0.52,P＜0.01) while negatively correlated with extraversion (39.6 ± 6.8),openness (39.8 ± 6.4),agreeableness (41.7±4.7) and conscientiousness ((40.1±6.4),r=-0.18,-0.14,-0.14,-0.25;all P＜0.01).The mediating role of self-esteem was 19.7％.Conclusion The prevalence of subthreshold body dysmorphic disorder in undergraduates is rather high.Big five personality can directly predict body image disturbance and indirectly predict body image disturbance through the mediating role of self-esteem.