Body image in Brazil: recent advances in the state of knowledge and methodological issues

Laus, Maria Fernanda; Kakeshita, Idalina Shiraishi; Costa, Telma Maria Braga; Ferreira, Maria Elisa Caputo; Fortes, Leonardo de Sousa; Almeida, Sebastião Sousa

doi:10.1590/S0034-8910.2014048004950

home Sumário navigate_before Anterior Atual Seguinte navigate_next

home Sumário

Revisão • Rev. Saúde Pública 48 (2) • Apr 2014 • https://doi.org/10.1590/S0034-8910.2014048004950 linkcopy

Body image in Brazil: recent advances in the state of knowledge and methodological issues

Imagem corporal no Brasil: avanços recentes no estado de conhecimento e em questões metodológicas

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstracts

OBJECTIVE To analyze Brazilian literature on body image and the theoretical and methodological advances that have been made.

METHODS A detailed review was undertaken of the Brazilian literature on body image, selecting published articles, dissertations and theses from the SciELO, SCOPUS, LILACS and PubMed databases and the CAPES thesis database. Google Scholar was also used. There was no start date for the search, which used the following search terms: “body image” AND “Brazil” AND “scale(s)”; “body image” AND “Brazil” AND “questionnaire(s)”; “body image” AND “Brazil” AND “instrument(s)”; “body image” limited to Brazil and “body image”.

RESULTS The majority of measures available were intended to be used in college students, with half of them evaluating satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the body. Females and adolescents of both sexes were the most studied population. There has been a significant increase in the number of available instruments. Nevertheless, numerous published studies have used non-validated instruments, with much confusion in the use of the appropriate terms (e.g., perception, dissatisfaction, distortion).

CONCLUSIONS Much more is needed to understand body image within the Brazilian population, especially in terms of evaluating different age groups and diversifying the components/dimensions assessed. However, interest in this theme is increasing, and important steps have been taken in a short space of time.

Body Image; Scales; Questionnaires; Evaluation, methods; Review

Instrument	Author/Year	Component	Evaluation	Description	Psychometric measure	Sample
Children
Escala de Silhuetas	Kakeshita^a (2008)	Perceptive satisfaction	Perception of actual silhouette and whole body satisfaction in individuals from 7 to 12 years old	11 figures of each sex, ranging from 12 to 29 kg/m², with a constant difference of 1.7 kg/m²	Content and criterion validities and test-retest reliability	160 children (94 ♀ and 66 ♂)
Adolescents
Escala de Silhuetas de adultos de Kakeshita (2008)	Laus et al⁷⁰ (2013)	Perceptive satisfaction	Perception of actual silhouette, whole body satisfaction, and ideal silhouette for the same sex and opposite sex in individuals older than 18 years old	15 figures of each sex, ranging from 12.5 to 47.5 kg/m², with a constant difference of 2.5 kg/m²	Construct validity and test-retest reliability	112 adolescents from 14 to 17 years old (55 ♀ and 57 ♂)
Adults
Instrumento de Avaliação da Satisfação com a Imagem Corporal	Ferreira & Leite⁴⁰ (2002)	Satisfaction	Degree of overall body satisfaction	25 items in two factors: satisfaction with appearance and weight concern	Factorial analysis, internal consistency, and concurrent validity	277 undergraduates (♀)
Escala de Medida da Imagem Corporal	Souto & Garcia⁹⁹ (2002)	Perceptive	Body image disturbances in nursing practice	23 items in three factors: body reality, body ideal, and body presentation	Analysis of construct, content and discriminant validities, and reliability	375 undergraduates (♀)
Escala de Silhuetas	Kakeshitaa (2008)	Perceptive satisfaction	Perception of actual silhouette, whole body satisfaction, and ideal silhouette for the same sex and opposite sex in individuals older than 18 years old	15 figures of each sex, ranging from 12.5 to 47.5 kg/m², with a constant difference of 2.5 kg/m²	Content and criterion validities and test-retest reliability	280 adults (138 ♀ and 142 ♂) from 18 to 59 years old
Escala de Silhuetas para Avaliação da Imagem Corporal de Fisiculturistas	Castro et al¹⁹ (2011)	Perceptive	Perception of actual silhouette	7 figures, ranging from 24.1 to 35.6 kg/m²	Inter-evaluator reliability	20 bodybuilders (♂)
Escala Situacional de Satisfação Corporal (ESSC)	Hirata & Pilati⁵⁸ (2010)	Satisfaction	Body satisfaction, ranging from parts to overall body at the exact moment of its application	28 items in four factors: lower parts, muscle and satisfaction, external parts, and fat and dissatisfaction	Factorial analysis and construct validity	451 undergraduates (200 ♂ and 251 ♀)
Escalas de Silhuetas Tridimensionais (EST) para o deficiente visual	Morgado^b (2009)	Satisfaction	Body satisfaction in congenitally blind subjects	9 male silhouettes and 9 female silhouettes made with plaster	Content and construct validities, internal reliability, reliability	8 ♂ and 8 ♀ blind individuals from 24 to 50 years old (content validity)
	Morgado^b (2009)	Satisfaction	Body satisfaction in congenitally blind subjects			30 ♂ and 28 ♀ blind individuals from 18 to 60 years old (other measures)
Escalas Brasileiras de Normatização e Internalização de Normas Corporais	Hirata et al⁵⁷ (2012)	Cognitive	Internalization of social norms about appearance and behavioral intentions to achieve the current standard of beauty	Female scale: 22 items in two factors: general internalization and behavioral intention	Factorial analysis	960 adults (691 ♀ and 269 ♂) - studies 1 and 3
	Hirata et al⁵⁷ (2012)	Cognitive		Male scale: 28 items in two factors: general internalization and behavioral intention	Factorial analysis	451 undergraduates (251 ♀ and 200 ♂) - study 2
Escala de Avaliação do Transtorno Dismórfico Corporal (EA-TDC)	Ramos & Yoshida⁹¹ (2012)	Affective	Intensity of concern and suffering with a defect in appearance and impairment in social, occupational, and other important areas of functioning	28 items in one factor	Factorial analysis, internal consistency, and criteria validity	30 patients with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (21 ♀ and 9 ♂)
	Ramos & Yoshida⁹¹ (2012)	Affective		28 items in one factor		400 undergraduates (298 ♀ and 102 ♀)

Instrument	Author/Year	Component	Evaluation	Description	Psychometric measure	Sample
Tripartite Influence Scale	Conti et al²⁸ (2010)	Cognitive	Sociocultural influences on body image	39 items in three factors: media, family, and friends	IC: α > 0.80	108 undergraduates (51 ♂ and 57 ♀)
Body Checking Cognitions Scale (BCCS)	Kachani et al⁶⁵ (2011)	Cognitive	Cognition associated with weight checking behaviors	19 items in four factors: objective veriﬁcation, reassurance, safety beliefs, and body control	IC: α = 0.95	154 undergraduates (♀)
Male Body Checking Questionnaire (MBCQ)	Carvalho et al¹⁵ (2012)	Behavioral	Body checking behavior in men	19 items in four subscales: global muscle checking, chest and shoulder checking, other comparative checking, and body testing	IC: α = 0.96	62 undergraduates (♂)
Body Change Inventory (BCI)	Conti et al²³ (2012)	Behavioral	Strategies used to alter body size among adolescents	48 items in six subscales: eating practices, food supplements, strategies to decrease body size, strategies to increase body size, and strategies to increase muscle size	–	47 undergraduates (20 ♀ and 27 ♂)

Instrument	Author/Year	Component	Evaluation	Description	Psychometric measure	Sample
Children
Eating Behaviours and Body Image Test (EBBIT)	Galindo & Carvalho⁴⁶ (2007)	Satisfaction	Symptoms that indicate possible eating behavior disorders	42 items in two factors: body image dissatisfaction and food restriction, and binge eating	Translation, factorial analysis, and internal consistency	261 ♀ from 9 to 12 years old
Adolescents
Body Area Scale (BAS)	Conti et al²⁶ (2009)	Satisfaction	Degree of personal satisfaction or dissatisfaction with one’s weight and with different body areas	24 body parts	Translation, internal consistency, construct validity, and reproducibility	386 adolescents (208 ♀ and 178 ♂) from 10 to 17 years old
Escala de Evaluación de Insatisfación Corporal	Conti et al²⁹ (2009)	Satisfaction	Body dissatisfaction in adolescents	32 items regarding frequency of behaviors related to body care, body awareness, and social and family influence	Translation, internal consistency, factor analysis, construct, discriminant, and concurrent validities, and reproducibility	386 adolescents (208 ♀ and 178 ♂) from 10 to 17 years old
Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ)	Conti et al²² (2009)	Satisfaction	Concern regarding body shape and weight, particularly the frequency with which individuals with or without eating disorders experience a sensation of “feeling fat”	34 items related to situations over the preceding 4 weeks	Internal consistency, discriminate and concurrent validities, and reliability	386 adolescents (208 ♀ and 178 ♂) from 10 to 17 years old
Escala de Silhueta para Adolescentes	Conti & Latorre (2009)²⁷	Perceptive satisfaction	Perception and body shape dissatisfaction	18 figures (9 of each sex)	Validity construct and reproducibility	386 adolescents (208 ♀ and 178 ♂) from 10 to 17 years old
Questionário de Imagem Corporal após o câncer de mama	^{Souzaa (2010)}	–	Assess the body image of women affected by breast cancer who underwent surgery for resection, with total or partial loss of the breast in the process	47 items in two factors for the scale of agreement (defectiveness and positive body image) and two for the frequency range (concern with illness and physical capacity, and perception of defect by others)	Factor analysis and reliability	^{268 patients ♀ from 28 to 80 years old}
Body Image Scale - Offer Self-Image Questionnaire (OSIQ)	^{Conti et al} ²⁵ ⁽²⁰¹¹⁾	Cognitive	Awareness of self-image	7 items	Internal consistency, discriminate and concurrent validities, and reliability	386 adolescents (208 ♀ and 178 ♂) from 10 to 18 years old
Figure Rating Scale for adolescents adapted by Childress, Brewerton, Hodges, & Jarrel (1993)	^{Adami et al} ¹ ⁽²⁰¹²⁾	Satisfaction	Body shape dissatisfaction	8 figures representing a range of body shapes, ranging from very slim (contour 1) to obese (contour 8)	Construct validity	232 adolescents (106 ♂ and 126 ♀) from 10 to 19 years old
Adults
Body Attitudes Questionnaire (BAQ)	^{Scagliusi et al} ⁹⁴ ⁽²⁰⁰⁵⁾	Affective	Body image attitudes (feelings and emotions women have about their bodies)	44 items in six factors: feeling fat, disparagement, strength and fitness, salience, attractiveness, and lower body fatness	Translation, discriminant and convergent validities, and test-retest reliability	39 ♀ with eating disorders and 62 undergraduates (♀)
Stunkard’s Figure Rating Scale	^{Scagliusi et al} ⁹⁵ ⁽²⁰⁰⁶⁾	Perceptive satisfaction	Perception of the actual size and satisfaction with the whole body	9 female figures, ranging from very thin (1) to very obese (9)	Concurrent and discriminate validities	98 undergraduates (♀) and 16 bulimic (♀)
Body Checking Questionnaire (BCQ)	^{Campanab (2007)}	Behavioral	Frequency of body checking behaviors	12 items in four factors: checking by observation of the body, checking by measurements of body parts, checking by comparisons between own body and body of others, and search for perceptive information	Translation, factorial analysis, construct validity, and reliability	561 undergraduates (♀)
Body Image Avoidance Questionnaire (BIAQ)	^{Campanab (2007)}	Behavioral	Frequency of body image avoidance behaviors	13 items in three factors: strategies to control hunger and body shapes, strategies of refusal to expose body, and strategies of accommodation	Translation, factorial analysis, construct validity, and reliability	561 undergraduates (♀)
Body Investment Scale (BIS)	^{Gouveia et al} ⁵² ⁽²⁰⁰⁸⁾	Affective	Emotional investment in the body	20 items in three components: body image, body care, and body touch	Translation, semantic evaluation, factorial analysis, internal consistency	317 ♀ from 15 to 58 years old
Body Dysmorphic Disorder Examination (BDDE)	^{Jorge et al} ⁶² ⁽²⁰⁰⁸⁾	Satisfaction	Degree of dissatisfaction relating to a given physical feature in patients who underwent plastic surgery	34 items	Translation, internal consistency, intra- and inter-observer reliability, and construct validity	60 patients (52 ♀ and 8 ♂) - cultural equivalence
Body Dysmorphic Disorder Examination (BDDE)	^{Jorge et al} ⁶² ⁽²⁰⁰⁸⁾	Satisfaction		34 items		30 preoperative patients (♀) from a plastic surgery clinic - validity and reliability
Muscle Appearance Satisfaction Scale (MASS)	^{Silva Junior et al} ⁹⁷ ⁽²⁰⁰⁸⁾	Satisfaction	Satisfaction with muscular appearance	19 items in four dimensions: checking, dependence, substance use, and satisfaction	Translation, factorial analysis, internal consistency	200 ♂ who practice bodybuilding
Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ)	^{Di Pietro & Silveira} ³⁶ ⁽²⁰⁰⁹⁾	Satisfaction	Concern regarding body shape and weight, particularly the frequency with which individuals with or without eating disorders experience the sensation of “feeling fat”	34 items related to situations over the preceding 4 weeks	Translation, factorial analysis, and internal consistency	164 undergraduates (93 ♂ and 71 ♀)
Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-3 (SATAQ-3)	^{Amaral et al} ⁷ ⁽²⁰¹¹⁾	Cognitive	Media influence on body image. Evaluates the acceptance and knowledge of models imposed by social norms about attractiveness	30 items in five subscales: internalization-general, internalization- athletic, pressures, information, and reverse score items	Translation, internal consistency, factorial analysis, reliability, and convergent validity	60 undergraduates (30 ♂ and 30 ♀) - verbal comprehension
						86 undergraduates (40 ♂ and 46 ♀) - internal consistency
						587 undergraduates (211 ♂ and 295 ♀) - psychometric data
Body Image Quality of Life Inventory (BIQLI) for burn patients	Assunção^c (2011)	–	Positive or negative impact of body image on individuals’ quality of life. It quantifies how a person’s body image experiences affect a broad range of life domains, including sense of self, social functioning, sexuality, emotional well-being, eating, exercise, grooming, etc.	19 items in one factor	Translation, factorial analysis, construct validity	Patients from 18 to 62 years old from a burn treatment unit at a public hospital
						4 patients - semantic analysis
						4 patients - pretest
						77 patients (43 ♀ and 34 ♂) - construct validity
Body Appreciation Scale (BAS)	Campana^d (2011)	Satisfaction	Positive body image exclusively in men	9 items in one factor	Translation, factorial analysis, reliability, and discriminant and convergent validities	878 ♂ from 18 to 39 years old with different schooling degrees
Body Esteem Scale (BES)	Campana^d (2011)	Satisfaction	Satisfaction of individuals in relation to their body and appearance	35 items in five factors: satisfaction with musculature, satisfaction with adiposity, satisfaction with body functions, satisfaction with face appearance, and satisfaction with body appearance	Translation, factorial analysis, reliability, and discriminant and convergent validities	878 ♂ from 18 to 39 years old with different schooling degrees
Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS)	Campana^d (2011)	Affective	Degree of anxiety that a person experiences when others are watching and evaluating his/her body and anxiety caused by the expectation that this external evaluation happens	10 items in one factor	Translation, factorial analysis, reliability, and discriminant and convergent validities	878 ♂ from 18 to 39 years old with different schooling degrees
Drive for Muscularity Scale (DMS)	Campana^d (2011)	Behavioral	Extent to which men desire to have a more muscular body and act upon that desire	12 items in two factors: orientation to muscularity and behaviors to become strong	Translation, factorial analysis, reliability, and discriminant and convergent validities	878 ♂ from 18 to 39 years old with different schooling degrees
Swansea Muscularity Attitudes Questionnaire (SMAQ)	Campana^d (2011)	Cognitive	Men's concerns about their muscles, desire to be muscular, and bodybuilding behavior	15 items in three factors: investment, value given to muscularity, and masculinity and muscularity	Translation, factorial analysis, reliability, and discriminant and convergent validities	878 ♂ from 18 to 39 years old with different schooling degrees
Masculine Body Ideal Distress Scale (MBIDS)	Campana^d (2011)	Cognitive	Degree of anxiety of a man for not having a body that meets the standards of beauty	6 items in one factor	Translation, factorial analysis, reliability, and discriminant and convergent validities	878 ♂ from 18 to 39 years old with different schooling degrees
Body Checking and Avoidance Questionnaire (BCAQ)	Kachani et al⁶⁴ (2011)	Behavioral	Evaluation of body checking behaviors in subjects with and without eating disorders	22 items about the frequency of various checking and avoidance behaviors across body parts and weighing frequency	Translation, factorial analysis, and discriminant and concurrent validities	85 ♀ with eating disorders (44 anorexia and 41 bulimia) and 40 control ♀
Body Appreciation Scale (BAS)	Swami et al¹⁰¹ (2011)	Satisfaction	Positive body image	13 items in two factors: general body appreciation and body image investment	Translation and factorial analysis	311 undergraduates (195 ♀ and 116 ♂)
Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-3 (SATAQ-3)	Swami et al¹⁰¹ (2011)	Cognitive	Media influence on body image. Evaluates the acceptance and knowledge of models imposed by social norms about attractiveness	30 items in four subscales: internalization-general, internalization- athletic, pressures, and information	Translation and factorial analysis	311 undergraduates (195 ♀ and 116 ♂)
Body Esteem Scale (BES)	Caetano^e (2011)	Satisfaction	Satisfaction of individuals in relation to their body and appearance	33 items in four factors: modifiable physical features with physical exercise and nutrition, non-modifiable physical features with physical exercise and nutrition, physical condition and sexuality	Translation, factorial analysis, and internal consistency	500 ♀ from 40 to 60 years old
Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ)	Caetano^e (2011)	Satisfaction	Concern regarding body shape and weight, particularly the frequency with which individuals with or without eating disorders experience a sensation of “feeling fat”	32 items related to attitudes, thoughts, and feelings about the body over the preceding 4 weeks	Translation, factorial analysis, and internal consistency	500 ♀ from 40 to 60 years old
Body Appreciation Scale (BAS)	Caetano^e (2011)	Satisfaction	Positive body image	10 items in one factor	Translation, factorial analysis, and internal consistency	500 ♀ from 40 to 60 years old

vertical_align_top show_chart

more_horiz close
- image
- translate
- link
- article
- vertical_align_top
- file_download
- show_chart
- image
- translate
- link
- article

location_on

Faculdade de Saúde Pública da Universidade de São Paulo Avenida Dr. Arnaldo, 715, 01246-904 São Paulo SP Brazil, Tel./Fax: +55 11 3061-7985 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: revsp@usp.br

rss_feed Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS