Psychometric assessment of the Brazilian version of the Male Body Dissatisfaction Scale

Abstract

Background: The study of male body image has increased substantially, but there are few assessment tools available for this population. The Male Body Dissatisfaction Scale (MBDS) has been widely used among students to research body image disturbances and eating disorders. However, the psychometric properties of this instrument have not been tested in the Brazilian context. Objectives: To explore the psychometric properties (convergent validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability and factor structure) of the Brazilian version of the MBDS. Methods: Two-hundred sixty-four undergraduate students were evaluated. Pearson's correlation was used to test the convergent validity of the MBDS and the Drive for Muscularity Scale, the Swansea Muscularity Attitudes Questionnaire, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Eating Attitudes Test-26, and the Commitment to Exercise Scale. Test--retest reliability was evaluated using t-tests for repeated measures and by calculating the coefficient of intraclass correlation. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted, and Cronbach's α coefficients were determined. A significance level of 5% was adopted. Results: The MBDS had an adequate factor structure, with two factors explaining 52.67% of the total variance. It showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α between 0.90 and 0.92), a high intraclass correlation coefficient (0.81), and convergent validity with the drive for muscularity, the psychological commitment to exercise, low self-esteem, and eating disorder risk behaviour measures. Discussion: The MBDS appears to be a valid and reliable tool for evaluating Brazilian male body image dissatisfaction.

Male body dissatisfaction scale (MBDS): proposal for a reduced model

“…Marô co [30] emphasizes that the exploratory strategy produces a factorial solution among many statistical equivalents without any indication of the quality of the retained factorial structure or content of the items. This fact can be verified in other studies [31,32] exploring the items of the MBDS for Brazilian and French men, and finding different structures. Thus, both in the construction of the items of a scale and in the definition of the associated factors, it is necessary to first formulate the technical framework involving both the content of the items and their allocation in the factors, and only then to verify whether the data collected confirm this structure.…”

“…In addition to defining and demonstrating adequate psychometric properties of the MBDS reduced model, and using the algorithm for computing the global score, we would like to present a proposal for classifying the level of individuals' body dissatisfaction (for each factor) based on the percentiles of the response scale. The prevalence of individuals in our sample with moderate-to-high dissatisfaction with musculature and general body appearance was low compared to those presented in the literature [13,32,48,49]. However, we must bear in mind that body dissatisfaction in this study was separated into levels.…”

“…One possible explanation for the lack of fit of the original model may be the fact that it was defined through an exploratory strategy. Carvalho et al [32] and Rousseau et al [31] also explored the items of the MBDS and found different structures. The exploratory strategy meant that different sets of items were grouped together, possibly related to the characteristics of the study sample.…”

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“…In addition, another sequential evaluation (Step B) is used considering the degree of importance given to each item ranging from 1 (Whitout importance) to 10 (Great importance). The MBDS was cross-culturally adapted and psychometrically evaluated for the Brazilian population by Carvalho, Conti, Neves, Meireles, Oliveira and Ferreira (2015). Latter, a reduced version of the scale was tested by Silva, Marôco, Ochner and Campos (2017) and presented good psychometric properties with only 12 items and two factors: Musculature (e.g., "Others would find me more attractive if I had more muscle") and General body appearance (e.g., "I think I have a generally attractive body").…”

Comparação Social, Insatisfação Corporal e Comportamento Alimentar em Jovens Adultos

“…Nesse sentido, a Escala de Insatisfação Corporal Masculina (Carvalho et al, 2013;Carvalho, Conti, Neves, Meireles, Oliveira, & Ferreira, 2015) seria uma ferramenta mais adequada para avaliação da insatisfação corporal de jovens adultos brasileiros. Outra opção seria a utilização de Drive for Muscularity Scale, uma das mais conhecidas escalas de avaliação da busca pela muscularidade em jovens adultos, psicometricamente testada para população brasileira (Campana, Tavares, Swami, & Silva, 2013).…”