Development and validation of the Body and Appearance Self-Conscious Emotions Scale (BASES)

Perceiving beauty in all women: Psychometric evaluation of the Broad Conceptualization of Beauty Scale

Women's ability to broadly conceptualize beauty (i.e., perceive many looks, appearances, body sizes/shapes, and inner characteristics as beautiful) has been identified as a facet of positive body image in qualitative research. A scale is needed to be able to assess this construct within quantitative research. Therefore, we developed the Broad Conceptualization of Beauty Scale (BCBS), which measures the extent women define female beauty widely within external and internal characteristics, and examined its psychometric properties among four community samples totaling 1086 women. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a unidimensional structure with nine items. The internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct (convergent, discriminant, and incremental) validity of its scores were upheld. Researchers and clinicians can use the BCBS alone to assess women's perceptions of female beauty, or they can use the BCBS alongside women's perceptions of self-beauty to more comprehensively explore women's ability to broadly conceptualize beauty for others and themselves.

Intrapersonal characteristics of body-related guilt, shame, pride, and envy in Canadian adults

This study examined differences in body-related shame, guilt, pride, and envy based on intrapersonal characteristics of sex, age, and weight status in 527 Canadian adults. Compared to men, women reported significantly higher shame and guilt contextualized to the body. No sex differences were observed for envy or pride. Middle-aged adults reported higher shame and lower pride compared with young adults, whereas no age differences were observed with body-related guilt. Meanwhile, shame and guilt were highest for individuals who had overweight or obese weight status, and pride was highest in individuals with average weight status. Overall, effect sizes were small and there were no significant interaction effects between sex, age, and weight status across body-related emotions. Further research is needed to capture similarities and differences of body-related self-conscious emotions between intrapersonal characteristics, to aid the development of intervention strategies to manage this important dimension of body image.

Assessing positive body image: Contemporary approaches and future directions

Empirical and clinical interest in positive body image has burgeoned in recent years. This focused attention is generating various measures and methods for researchers and psychotherapists to assess an array of positive body image constructs in populations of interest. No resource to date has integrated the available measures and methods for easy accessibility and comparison. Therefore, this article reviews contemporary scales for the following positive body image constructs: body appreciation, positive rational acceptance, body image flexibility, body functionality, attunement (body responsiveness, mindful self-care), positive/self-accepting body talk, body pride, body sanctification, broad conceptualization of beauty, and self-perceived body acceptance by others. Guidelines for the qualitative assessment of positive body image and recommendations for integrating positive body image assessment within psychotherapy and applied research settings are also offered. The article concludes with articulating broad future directions for positive body image assessment, including ideas for expanding its available measures, methods, and dynamic expressions.

Psychometric properties of the short form of the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire in a French adolescent sample

Recently, Marsh, Martin, and Jackson (2010) developed a short form of the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (PSDQ-S). The objective of this study was to examine the construct validity and reliability of the PSDQ-S in a French adolescent sample. The sample used in this study included 587 adolescents (247 boys, 340 girls, Mage=14.62). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) provided support for the factor validity, reliability, and convergent validity of the French version of the PSDQ-S, and the strict measurement invariance of PSDQ-S across sex, age, body mass index, and involvement or not in sport practice. However, the latent means of the PSDQ-S did not prove to be invariant across sex, body mass index, and involvement or not in sport practice. Our findings suggest that the French version of the PSDQ-S presents acceptable psychometric properties and may be confidently used in research or practice to assess the physical self-conceptions of French adolescents.

Body-related self-conscious emotions relate to physical activity motivation and behavior in men

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between the body-related self-conscious emotions of shame, guilt, and pride and physical activity motivation and behavior among adult males. Specifically, motivation regulations (external, introjected, indentified, intrinsic) were examined as possible mediators between each of the body-related self-conscious emotions and physical activity behavior. A cross-sectional study was conducted with adult men (N = 152; Mage = 23.72, SD = 10.92 years). Participants completed a questionnaire assessing body-related shame, guilt, authentic pride, hubristic pride, motivational regulations, and leisure-time physical activity. In separate multiple mediation models, body-related shame was positively associated with external and introjected regulations and negatively correlated with intrinsic regulation. Guilt was positively linked to external, introjected, and identified regulations. Authentic pride was negatively related to external regulation and positively correlated with both identified and intrinsic regulations and directly associated with physical activity behavior. Hubristic pride was positively associated with intrinsic regulation. Overall, there were both direct and indirect effects via motivation regulations between body-related self-conscious emotions and physical activity (R(2) shame = .15, guilt = .16, authentic pride = .18, hubristic pride = .16). These findings highlight the importance of targeting and understanding self-conscious emotions contextualized to the body and links to motivation and positive health behavior among men.