Objectives: The present study sought to examine the factor structure, reliability, validity and gender invariance of the Arabic Body Appreciation Scale (BAS-2), and its two short forms (the 3-item and 2-item BAS-2SF) among community Lebanese Arabic-speaking adults.
Methods: We carried-out an online cross-sectional survey. The 10-item BAS-2, the functionality appreciation scale and the Eating Attitudes Test-26 were completed by 826 Lebanese community adults (57.9% females, aged 25.42 ± 8.44 years).
Results: The Arabic 10-item, 3-item and 2-item BAS-2 converged on a one-factor solution, and demonstrated high internal consistency (McDonald's ω value of .92, .88, and .86 respectively). All indices suggested that configural, metric, and scalar invariance was supported across gender. The 3-item and 2-item BAS-2SF were highly correlated with the original BAS-2 (r > 0.9). Higher 10-item, 3-item and 2-item BAS-2 scores correlated significantly and strongly with more positive eating attitudes and greater functionality appreciation, and higher 10-item BAS-2 scores correlated positively and weakly with BMI, supporting convergent validity.
Conclusion: The present work contributes to the literature by providing a psychometrically sound Arabic-translation of the BAS-2 and short-forms, benefitting both researchers and clinicians.
Keywords: Arabic; BAS-2; BAS-2SF; Body appreciation; Psychometric properties.
Research on body image traditionally has focused on describing and predicting negative body image such as body dissatisfaction, body shame, and body preoccupation, with less focus on identifying, predicting, and promoting adaptive body attitude. Recently, however, the study of positive body image has gained considerable motion, and body appreciation has been the central organizing variable within these investigations. Body appreciation has been defined as accepting, holding favourable opinions toward, and respecting the body, while also rejecting media-promoted appearance ideals as the only form of human beauty. The Body Appreciation Scale has been utilized by researchers to understand features, correlates, and potential outcomes of positive body image. This scale and its short forms are not yet validated in Arabic. To that end, we aimed to translate and validate the Arabic version of the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS-2), and its two short forms (the 3-item and 2-item BAS-2SF) in the present study, which would in turn facilitate improved research and clinical practices related to body appreciation in Arabic-speaking nations. The present findings provide support for the psychometric properties of the Body Appreciation scales in Arabic-speaking adults in Lebanon.
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