The Brief Body Avoidance and Checking Scale for physically active men development and initial validation

Angela Nogueira Neves Betanho Campana *, Viren Swami **/***, Fabiane Frota Da Rocha Morgado ****, Mateus Betanho Campana ****, Jairo José Morgado *****, Lucilene Ferreira * and Maria Da Consolação Gomes Cunha Fernandes Tavares ****

(*) Sagrado Coração University, Bauru, Brazil
(**) Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom
(***) Department of Psychology, HELP University College, Malaysia
(****) Department of Physical Education, University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
(*****) Brazilian Army Research Institute of Physical Fitness, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Citation

Nogueira Neves Betanho Campana, A., Swami, V., Frota Da Rocha Morgado, F., Betanho Campana, M., José Morgado, J., Ferreira, L., Da Consolação Gomes Cunha Fernandes Tavares, M. (2013). The Brief Body Avoidance and Checking Scale for physically active men development and initial validation. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 44(6), 531-545. doi:10.7352/IJSP.2013.44.531

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop and examine the psychometric properties of the Brief Body Avoidance and Checking Scale (BBACS) for physically active men. The BBACS is designed to assess the frequency of body checking and avoidance behaviors common among users of gyms and health clubs. Following development of an initial pool of items and content judgment, data from 325 men were collected from gym users and participants in organized sporting events. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit for a model with two factors and 12 items. Satisfactory evidence of construct validity and internal consistency was also generated through analysis of factor loadings, t-values, correlations with drive for muscularity and body satisfaction measures, group differences, Cronbach’s alpha, and construct reliability tests. The BBACS appears to be a valid and reliable scale for assessing the frequency of body checking and body avoidance behaviors among physically active men.

Keywords: Avoidance behavior, Checking behavior, Psychometric properties