Composition and Factorial Invariance for the Assessment of Body Image Dissatisfaction Questionnaire in Mexican Adolescents.

Raúl Josué Nájera-Longoria,Susana Ivonne Aguirre,Miguel Conchas-Ramírez,Yunuen Socorro Rangel-Ledezma,Carolina Jiménez-Lira,Humberto Blanco,Perla Jannet Jurado-García,José René Blanco

doi:10.3390/children8090789

Raúl Josué Nájera-Longoria, Susana Ivonne Aguirre + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/children8090789

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Abstract

Body image is a mental representation that a person has, which could become a body dissatisfaction due to the pressure exerted by the culture, affecting several life stages specially in adolescents. The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties and factorial invariance of the questionnaire to assess body image dissatisfaction. The sample consisted of 552 Mexican teenagers, 259 female, and 293 male, with a mean age of 12.91 ± 0.96 years. Confirmatory Factor Analyses show that a five-factor structure is viable and adequate. The five-factor structure (perceptual, emotional distress, behavioral, proposal to change, and fear of gaining weight) show adequate fit indices and validity, even though the obtained model does not completely correspond to that proposed by the authors of the scale, it continues to endorse the multifactorial component of body dissatisfaction. On the other hand, the factorial structure, the factor loadings, and the intercepts are considered invariant in both populations; however, there are differences between the populations for the means of the perceptual, emotional distress, and fear of gaining weight factors. This study serves as a premise for future research on the study of instruments for measuring body image in populations with different personal and cultural factors.

Highlights

The earlier studies on body image go back to 1920 and are based on social and psychological perceptions of this phenomenon
Body image refers to the mental representation that the person has of his or her own body [1], and that corresponds to a changing, experiential process that is produced throughout the life cycle
The analyses showed that the model image dissatisfaction (IMAGEN)-5 has a penta factorial structure: (a) Perceptual, with 6 items; (b) Emotional distress, with 5 items; (c) Behavioral, with 2 items; (d) Planning of change, with 3 items; and (e) Fear of gaining weight, with 3 items, and is a valid and viable instrument to be used with male and female teenagers

Summary

Introduction

The earlier studies on body image go back to 1920 and are based on social and psychological perceptions of this phenomenon. Body image is especially relevant during infancy and teenage years [2,3] as its perception could be distant from the individual’s real image [4,5]. Physical activity poses a mechanism for maintaining body weight and improving health. This is the basis on which the positive influence of physical activity on body image is built [6]. Researchers have found that both the perception of one’s weight and level of fitness have an effect on behaviors directed towards obtaining or maintaining a healthy body weight [7]

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