My Exposed Body: Psychometric Properties of the Italian Version of the Social Physique Anxiety Scale-7 among Women

Abstract

Background: Social Physique Anxiety (SPA) is the anxiety resulting from the prospect or presence of the interpersonal evaluation of one’s physique. It is a construct related to body image and body esteem. The Social Physique Anxiety Scale-7 (SPAS-7) is a self-report scale aimed at measuring the degree of anxiety that people experience when others evaluate their physique. Methods: This study aimed to investigate the factor structure (through Confirmatory Factor Analysis followed by multi-group confirmatory factorial analyses), reliability, and convergent validity of an Italian version of the SPAS-7 among a sample of women (N = 520; mean age = 33.5, SD = 10.5). Results: Confirmatory Factor Analysis attested the unidimensional factorial structure of the SPAS-7, which achieved full invariance across age groups. The strength of the inter-relationships between the SPAS-7 and measures of negative (i.e., body dissatisfaction) and positive body image (i.e., body appreciation and body compassion) provided evidence of good convergent validity. The Cronbach’s alpha was very good. Conclusion: According to our results, the Italian version of the SPAS-7 could be a valid and agile instrument for assessing self-presentational concerns associated with body image among Italian-speaking women across age.

Keywords

• social physique anxiety
• body dissatisfaction
• psychometric validation
• invariance
• body appreciation
• body compassion