RESEARCH ARTICLE Self-perception of physical appearance of adolescents and associated factors in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Ziyad Ahmed Abdo ID 1 *, Semira Ahmed Seid 2 , Aynye Negesse Woldekiros 2 1 Ethiopian Ministry of Health, Department of Hygiene and Environmental Health, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2 Ethiopian Ministry of Health, Department of Public Relation and Communication, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia * ziyadahm1982@gmail.com Abstract Introduction Establishing a positive body image is a critical factor for adolescents’ physical and mental health, as it determines self-confidence, and sustainable individual growth and development throughout their lives. This reality needs to be supported by evidences generated locally. However, there is a lack of information in this regard in the study setting. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the self-perception of one’s physical appearance and its associated factors among adolescents in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods and materials A community-based, cross-sectional study design was used to conduct the study. At the end of the multistage sampling procedure, a systematic random sampling technique was employed to select 308 study participants from selected districts. The questionnaire was adapted from previous studies as it was appropriate for local context. The data collectors were trained before the data collection and supervised during the data collection period, and the questionnaire was pretested. Bivariate logistic regression was used to identify candidate variables, and then variables with p<0.2 were taken to multiple logistic regressions to iden- tify independent associated factors. Statistical significance was considered at P <0.05 with adjusted odds ratios calculated at 95% CIs. Result A total of 283 adolescents were participated in the study, with a response rate of 91.9%. The overall good self-perception of one’s physical appearance was 48.4% [95% CI = 43.8, 54.1]. Having a BMI between 18.5 kg/m 2 -24.9 kg/m 2 (AOR = 2.56; 95% CI: 1.45, 4.54), presence of enough sport fields in the school (AOR = 1.89; 95% CI: 1.09, 3.29), having daily access to internet services (AOR = 1.69; 95% CI: 1.07, 2.94), following Ethiopian movies/cinemas (AOR = 2.46; 95% CI: 1.46, 4.15), and regularly following western movies/cinemas (AOR = 2.0; 95% CI: 1.11, 3.59) were significantly associated with a good self-perception of one’s physical appearance. PLOS ONE PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281202 January 27, 2023 1 / 13 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Abdo ZA, Seid SA, Woldekiros AN (2023) Self-perception of physical appearance of adolescents and associated factors in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. PLoS ONE 18(1): e0281202. https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281202 Editor: Zekariyas Sahile, Ambo University College of Medicine and Public Health, ETHIOPIA Received: January 10, 2022 Accepted: January 17, 2023 Published: January 27, 2023 Peer Review History: PLOS recognizes the benefits of transparency in the peer review process; therefore, we enable the publication of all of the content of peer review and author responses alongside final, published articles. The editorial history of this article is available here: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281202 Copyright: © 2023 Abdo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study is uploaded as Supporting Information file. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.