Development and validation of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-4 (SATAQ-4).

Abstract

The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-3 (SATAQ-3) and its earlier versions are measures designed to assess societal and interpersonal aspects of appearance ideals.Correlational, structural equation modeling, and prospective studies of the SATAQ-3 have shown consistent and significant associations with measures of body image disturbance and eating pathology. In the current investigation, the SATAQ-3 was revised to improve upon some conceptual limitations and was evaluated in four US and three international female samples, as well as a US male sample. In Study 1, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses for a sample of women from the Southeastern US (N = 859) indicated a 22-item scale with five factors: Study 2 replicated the factorial validity, reliability, and convergent validity of the SATAQ-4 in an international sample of women drawn from Italy, England, and Australia (N = 362). Study 3 examined a sample of college males from the US (N = 271); the five-factor solution was largely replicated, yet there was some evidence of an underlying structure unique to men. Future research avenues include additional item testing and modification of the scale for men, as well as adaptation of the measure for children and adolescents.Keywords: SATAQ, internalization, appearance ideals, sociocultural pressure, measurement, body image, eating disturbance. DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE SATAQ-4 5 Development and Validation of the Sociocultural AttitudesTowards Appearance Research has demonstrated an array of negative consequences associated with body image disturbance and eating pathology (e.g., decreased self-esteem, negative affect, unhealthy weight control practices, and serious medical complications) (Grossbard, Lee, Neighbors, & Larimer, 2009; Mellor, Fuller-Tyszkie, McCabe, & Ricciardelli, 2010;Mintz & Betz, 1988;Rodin, Silberstein, & Striegel-Moore, 1984;Stice, 2002). Consequently, researchers have sought to understand the etiology and maintenance of these disorders in order to illuminate potential points of intervention (Cash & Smolak, 2011;Stice, 2002). One prominent etiological model that has received strong empirical support is the tripartite influence model (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999), which is based on socioculturual theories of body image disturbance and disordered eating (Keel & Forney, 2013;Tiggemann, 2011). This model posits that individuals are pressured by powerful social agents (i.e., peers, family, and the media) to adhere to culturally-sanctioned appearance ideals, which emphasize thinness for women and muscularity for men. These social pressures are proposed to lead individuals to internalize relevant appearance ideals (i.e., to set the ideal as one's own personal standard of attractiveness).Internalization of the often unattainable ideal is thought to lead to body dissatisfaction,which is an established risk factor for unhealthy weight control practices and disordered eating (Thompson, Schaefer, & Menzel, 2012).Because females report higher le...

Bodies in nature: Associations between exposure to nature, connectedness to nature, and body image in U.S. adults

“…In turn, these social pressures are posited to lead individuals to internalise appearance ideals and compare their bodies against these ideals, which lead to the development of body dissatisfaction (Schaefer et al, 2015). Based on the idea that exposure and connected to nature would allow for a critical evaluation of appearance ideals and the sources of those ideals (Holloway et al, 2014), we predicted that the nature-related variables would be negatively associated with perceived pressure to conform to sociocultural ideals of appearance, resulting in negative relationships with each of the three sources of pressure.…”

“…Participants were asked to complete the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire, now in its fourth iteration (SATAQ-4; Schaefer et al, 2015). The SATAQ-4 is a 22-item scale that measures an individual's perceived pressure to conform to ideals of appearance emanating from family (four items; sample item: "I feel pressure from family members to look thinner"), peers (four items; sample item: "My peers encourage me to get thinner"), and media (four items; sample item: "I feel pressure from the media to decrease my level of body fat").…”

“…Subscale scores were computed as the mean of items associated with each factor, so that higher scores reflect greater perceived pressure or greater internalisation. In samples of predominantly college-aged U.S. women and men, Schaefer et al (2015) provided evidence for the 5-factor dimensionality of the SATAQ-4 using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. They also reported that SATAQ-4 scores demonstrated excellent reliability and good convergent validity with measures of body image, eating disturbance, and self-esteem.…”

Body size attitudes and body image perception among preschool children and their parents: a preliminary study

“…Next, the child agreed to participate. All parents completed the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionare-4 (SATAQ-4) [28] and the Contour Drawing Rating Scale [29] during a parents' meeting in the school. Next, for 2 weeks two researchers (females) had an opportunity to participate in activities at the nursery.…”

“…Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2016; 4: [28][29][30][31][32][33][34] of muscularity, and pressure from the media, family and peers to change the body shape [5][6][7]. The actual versus ideal body size discrepancy is associated with body dissatisfaction among children and adults [8][9][10][11].…”