Scale of Body Connection: A multi-sample construct validation study

Abstract

The Scale of Body Connection (SBC) was created to address the need for a self-report measure to examine body awareness and bodily dissociation in mind-body research. Developed in the U.S.A., it has been translated into many languages and tested for validity of scale translation. The burgeoning of mind-body research and the widespread use of the SBC scale underscored the need for critical assessment of the instrument’s measurement properties. Thus, a broader evaluation of the SBC was designed using large samples from eight international, cross-sectional studies drawn from community (i.e., non-clinical) populations. Specifically, we assessed scale distribution properties and internal consistency reliabity, and using confirmatory factory analysis we evaluated scale contruct validity and compared male/female measurement models. The results indicated acceptable reliability for both the body awareness and bodily dissociation scales, and a good fit between the proposed theoretic model and the data, providing evidence of construct validity across all samples. Mean differences in body awareness were observed for males vs. females in most samples, with females generally showing higher body awareness compared to males. Multi-group structural equation modeling demonstrated a stable latent factor structure and factor loadings, indicating equivalent measurement models for males and females. In summary, this multi-sample study demonstrated SBC construct validity that supports its use in clinical research as a brief, readily translated, easy to administer measure of body awareness and bodily dissociation.

Body connection mediates the relationship between traumatic childhood experiences and impaired emotion regulation in borderline personality disorder

“…Our findings of reduced body awareness and enhanced body dissociation in women with BPD are in line with earlier studies reporting disturbances in higher-order body representations in BPD [32,33,55]. The present study adds body connection to these BPD-related impairments and emphasizes the disturbed integration of bottom-up bodily signals and top-down-driven cognitive processes [26,56].…”

Psychological Treatment of Low Sexual Desire in Women: Protocol for a Randomized, Waitlist-Controlled Trial of Internet-Based Cognitive Behavioral and Mindfulness-Based Treatments

“…Relationship satisfaction will be assessed with the Relationship Assessment Scale [ 56 ]. Sexual communication will be assessed with the Dyadic Sexual Communication Scale [ 57 , 58 ] and mindfulness, body image, and body connection will be assessed by the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale [ 59 ], Body Image Self-Consciousness Scale [ 60 ], and the Scale of Body Connection [ 61 ], respectively. Possible adverse effects of the interventions will be assessed with the Inventory for the Assessment of Negative Effects of Psychotherapy [ 62 ].…”

Body misperception: A complex, multifaceted issue to be taken into consideration in obesity

“…The Scale of Body Connection (SBC) is one of the first such tools to have been validated. It includes items measuring body awareness, but also bodily dissociation (91) .…”