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 U. S.; Stieger S.; Aavik T.; Ranjbar H. A.; Adebayo S. O.; Afhami R.; Ahmed O.; Aime A.; Akel M.; Halbusi H. A.; Alexias G.; Ali K. F.; Alp-Dal N.; Alsalhani A. B.; Alvares-Solas S.; Amaral A. C. S.; Andrianto S.; Aspden T.; Argyrides M.; Aruta J. J. B. R.; Atkin S.; Ayandele O.; Baceviciene M.; Bahbouh R.; Ballesio A.; Barron D.; Bellard A.; Bender S. S.; Beydag K. D.; Birovljevic G.; Blackburn M.; Borja-Alvarez T.; Borowiec J.; Bozoganova M.; Bratland-Sanda S.; Browning M. H. E. M.; Brytek-Matera A.; Burakova M.; Cakir-Kocak Y.; Camacho P.; Camilleri V. E.; Cazzato V.; Cerea S.; Chaiwutikornwanich A.; Chaleeraktrakoon T.; Chambers T.; Chen Q. -W.; Chen X.; Chien C. -L.; Chobthamkit P.; Choompunuch B.; Compte E. J.; Corrigan J.; Cosmas G.; Cowden R. G.; Czepczor-Bernat K.; Czub M.; da Silva W. R.; Dadfar M.; Dalley S. E.; Dany L.; Datu J. A. D.; Berbert de Carvalho P. H.; Coelho G. L. H.; De Jesus A. O. S.; Debbabi S. H.; Dhakal S.; Di Bernardo F.; Dimitrova D. D.; Dion J.; Dixson B.; Donofrio S. M.; Drysch M.; Du H.; Dzhambov A. M.; El-Jor C.; Enea V.; Eskin M.; Farbod F.; Farrugia L.; Fian L.; Fisher M. L.; Folwarczny M.; Frederick D. A.; Fuller-Tyszkiewicz M.; Furnham A.; Garcia A. A.; Geller S.; Ghisi M.; Ghorbani A.; Martinez M. A. G.; Gradidge S.; Graf S.; Grano C.; Gyene G.; Hallit S.; Hamdan M.; Handelzalts J. E.; Hanel P. H. P.; Hawks S. R.; Hekmati I.; Helmy M.; Hill T.; Hina F.; Holenweger G.; Hrebickova M.; Ijabadeniyi O. A.; Imam A.; Ince B.; Irrazabal N.; Jankauskiene R.; Jiang D. -Y.; Jimenez-Borja M.; Jimenez-Borja V.; Johnson E. M.; Jovanovic V.; Jovic M.; Jovic M.; Junqueira A. C. P.; Kahle L. -M.; Kantanista A.; Karakiraz A.; Karkin A. N.; Kasten E.; Khatib S.; Khieowan N.; Kimong P. J.; Kiropoulos L.; Knittel J.; Kohli N.; Koprivnik M.; Kospakov A.; Krol-Zielinska M.; Krug I.; Kuan G.; Kueh Y. C.; Kujan O.; Kukic M.; Kumar S.; Kumar V.; Lamba N.; Lauri M. A.; Laus M. F.; LeBlanc L. A.; Lee H. J.; Lipowska M.; Lipowski M.; Lombardo C.; Lukacs A.; Maiano C.; Malik S.; Manjary M.; Baldo L. M.; Martinez-Banfi M.; Massar K.; Matera C.; McAnirlin O.; Mebarak M. R.; Mechri A.; Meireles J. F. F.; Mesko N.; Mills J.; Miyairi M.; Modi R.; Modrzejewska A.; Modrzejewska J.; Mulgrew K. E.; Myers T. A.; Namatame H.; Nassani M. Z.; Nerini A.; Neto F.; Neto J.; Neves A. N.; Ng S. -K.; Nithiya D.; O J.; Obeid S.; Oda-Montecinos C.; Olapegba P. O.; Olonisakin T. T.; Omar S. S.; Orlygsdottir B.; Ozsoy E.; Otterbring T.; Pahl S.; Panasiti M. S.; Park Y.; Patwary M. M.; Petho T.; Petrova N.; Pietschnig J.; Pourmahmoud S.; Prabhu V. G.; Postuvan V.; Prokop P.; Ramseyer Winter V. L.; Razmus M.; Ru T.; Rupar M.; Sahlan R. N.; Hassan M. S.; Salov A.; Sapkota S.; Sarfo J. O.; Sawamiya Y.; Schaefer K.; Schulte-Mecklenbeck M.; Seekis V.; Selvi K.; Sharifi M.; Shrivastava A.; Siddique R. F.; Sigurdsson V.; Silkane V.; Simunic A.; Singh G.; Slezackova A.; Sundgot-Borgen C.; Ten Hoor G.; Tevichapong P.; Tipandjan A.; Todd J.; Togas C.; Tonini F.; Tovar-Castro J. C.; Trangsrud L. K. J.; Tripathi P.; Tudorel O.; Tylka T. L.; Uyzbayeva A.; Vally Z.; Vanags E.; Vega L. D.; Vicente-Arruebarrena A.; Vidal-Mollon J.; Vilar R.; Villegas H.; Vintila M.; Wallner C.; White M. P.; Whitebridge S.; Windhager S.; Wong K. Y.; Yau E. K.; Yamamiya Y.; Yeung V. W. L.; Zanetti M. C.; Zawisza M.; Zeeni N.; Zvarikova M.; Voracek M.

doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.07.010

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 conceptualization of the body appreciation construct, which should facilitate further cross-cultural research.

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, U.S., Stieger, S., Aavik, T., Ranjbar, H.A., Adebayo, S.O., Afhami, R., Ahmed, O., Aime, A., Akel, M., Halbusi, H.A., Alexias, G., Ali, K.F., Alp-Dal, N., Alsalhani, A.B., Alvares-Solas, S., Amaral, A.C.S., Andrianto, S., Aspden, T., Argyrides, M., et al.. - In: BODY IMAGE. - ISSN 1740-1445. - 46:(2023), pp. 449-466. [10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.07.010]