Body change strategies refer to various ways of changing and influencing the body shape, size and/or body weight as well as its muscularity. One of the factors that predict body change strategies is body dissatisfaction as a subjective negative assessment of one’s physical appearance. However, the role of body image importance is less explored. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of gender, body mass index, body dissatisfaction and body image importance in predicting use of different body change strategies. 1056 primary and secondary school students of average age M = 15.14 years completed the translated and modified version of the Body Image and Body Change Inventory. Results show that gender, body mass index, body dissatisfaction and body image importance are significant predictors of practicing some of the body change strategies. Both adolescent girls and boys with a higher body mass index use weight loss strategies more frequently, while boys, compared to girls, use strategies to increase their body weight, muscle strength and size more often. The finding of this study that body image importance is a significant predictor of all of the investigated body change strategies emphasizes the role of body image importance in practicing body change strategies.

body dissatisfaction, body image importance, body change strategies, body mass index, adolescence