The German validation of the Body Perception Questionnaire-Short Form (BPQ-SF) and its relation to current self-report measures of interoception

Abstract

The Body Perception Questionnaire-Short Form (BPQ-SF) is one of the most used questionnaires to assess interoception. Although the BPQ-SF has been translated into different languages, there is no validated German questionnaire adaptation so far. Furthermore, empirical evidence outlining how the BPQ-SF relates to novel theories of interoception that distinguish between different facets, such as attention and accuracy, is still missing. The current study therefore aims at (1) validating the German version of BPQ-SF (with data from three different sites, Ntotal = 1292) and (2) relating it to the constructs of interoceptive accuracy and attention. In line with the original validation of the BPQ-SF, in the German version, an adequate three-factor structure and good internal consistency were found. However, reliability indexes varied between good, for the supra-and subdiaphragmatic scales and poor, for the body awareness scale. The three scales of the BPQ-SF showed significant associations with interoceptive measures and, more importantly, were related to both interoceptive accuracy and attention, suggesting that they mirror a mixture of both constructs. Finally, in relation to measures of psychopathology, the supra-and subdiaphragmatic (but not the body awareness) scales were positively related to alexythimic, anxious, and depressive tendencies. These findings provide evidence for the usability of the German version of the BPQ-SF and further shed light on the heterogeneity of the existing self-report measures of interoception.