Body appreciation around the world: Measurement invariance of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age

Swami, V, Tran, US, Stieger, S, Aavik, T, Ranjbar, HA, Adebayo, SO, Afhami, R, Ahmed, O, Aimé, A, Akel, M, Halbusi, HA, Alexias, G, Ali, KF, Alp-Dal, N, Alsalhani, AB, Álvares-Solas, S, Amaral, ACS, Andrianto, S, Aspden, T, Argyrides, M et al (2023) Body appreciation around the world: Measurement invariance of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age. Body Image, 46. pp. 449-466. ISSN 1873-6807

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Abstract

The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a widely used measure of a core facet of the positive body image construct. However, extant research concerning measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across a large number of nations remains limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset - with data collected between 2020 and 2022 - to assess measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated that full scalar invariance was upheld across all nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups, suggesting that the unidimensional BAS-2 model has widespread applicability. There were large differences across nations and languages in latent body appreciation, while differences across gender identities and age groups were negligible-to-small. Additionally, greater body appreciation was significantly associated with higher life satisfaction, being single (versus being married or in a committed relationship), and greater rurality (versus urbanicity). Across a subset of nations where nation-level data were available, greater body appreciation was also significantly associated with greater cultural distance from the United States and greater relative income inequality. These findings suggest that the BAS-2 likely captures a near-universal conceptualisation of the body appreciation construct, which should facilitate further cross-cultural research.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Body appreciation; Body appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2); Cross-cultural; Measurement invariance; Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA); Psychometrics; Structural analysis; 11 Medical and Health Sciences; 16 Studies in Human Society; 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences; Social Psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Divisions:	Psychology (from Sep 2019)
Publisher:	Elsevier
Date of acceptance:	31 July 2023
Date of first compliant Open Access:	4 September 2023
Date Deposited:	04 Sep 2023 12:51
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2023 13:00
DOI or ID number:	10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.07.010
URI:	https://ljmu-9.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/21202

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