The Body Appreciation Scale-2: item refinement and psychometric evaluation.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Body Image Research
• Psychometrics

Background:

• The Body Appreciation Scale (BAS) is a measure of positive body image, assessing acceptance, favorable opinions, and respect for one's body.
• While the BAS has established psychometric support, revisions were needed to eliminate sex-specific language and reduce body dissatisfaction focus.

Purpose of the Study:

• To revise and validate the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS) into a new measure, the BAS-2.
• To develop a more inclusive and psychometrically sound instrument for assessing positive body image.

Main Methods:

• Three studies involving 820 women and 767 men from college and online (Amazon Mechanical Turk) samples were conducted.
• Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to examine item properties and scale structure.
• Psychometric properties including internal consistency, reliability, and validity were assessed.

Main Results:

• A 10-item scale (BAS-2), comprising five original BAS items and five new items, was developed.
• Confirmatory factor analysis supported the BAS-2's unidimensionality and invariance across sex and sample type.
• The BAS-2 demonstrated strong internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity (convergent, incremental, discriminant).

Conclusions:

• The revised Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a psychometrically sound measure of positive body image.
• The BAS-2 is suitable for use in both research and clinical settings.
• The scale's invariance across sex and sample type enhances its generalizability.