Attitudes and avatars instrument: development and initial testing

Area of Science:

• Adolescent Health
• Psychometrics
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Developing instruments to understand adolescent body image is crucial.
• Existing models guide the measurement of attitudes, intentions, and actions related to body change.
• The integrated behavior model informed the creation of the ATTAIN instrument.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and test the initial psychometric properties of the ATTitudes and Avatars INstrument (ATTAIN).
• To measure young adolescent boys' attitudes, intentions, and actions regarding body change.
• To assess the validity and reliability of a new instrument for adolescent body image research.

Main Methods:

• Content validity was assessed by an adolescent health expert panel and young adolescent boys.
• A pilot study involving 59 boys (ages 11-14) was conducted in a US middle school.
• Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were tested during physical education classes.

Main Results:

• The ATTAIN instrument demonstrated high content validity.
• Internal consistency levels were slightly below recommended benchmarks.
• Test-retest reliability results were varied, indicating a need for further investigation.

Conclusions:

• The ATTAIN instrument shows preliminary potential for screening young adolescent boys' body perceptions.
• The survey items and avatars within ATTAIN were meaningful to the participating boys.
• Continued development and testing are necessary to establish construct and discriminant validity for ATTAIN.