Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale for Healthy Behaviors: Scale Development and Assessment of the Relation Between Targeted Social Support and Body Size Dissatisfaction

Abstract

Understanding the relationship among weight status, body dissatisfaction, and social support is essential to addressing childhood obesity. To address the lack of reliable and valid measurement tools to assess social support specifically for healthy behaviors pertaining to childhood obesity, a new measure was developed, the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale for Healthy Behaviors (CASSS-HB). The study sample included 121 third- through fifth-grade students. Results indicated that the CASSS-HB showed preliminary evidence of reliability and validity as a measure of targeted social support for healthy behaviors in children. Youth who were categorized as obese scored higher on a score of body dissatisfaction than healthy weight or overweight youth. Social support for healthy behaviors was significantly related to body size dissatisfaction for males, with parent support a significant unique predictor. The assessment of targeted social support and body size dissatisfaction at early ages is essential to childhood obesity research and future school-based intervention development.