Reliability assessment of the somatomorphic matrix.

OBJECTIVE

The appearance of muscularity is an emerging topic of research interest within the body image field. However, the most widely used measure to assess attitudes toward muscularity, the somatomorphic matrix, lacks pertinent reliability data.

METHOD

In response to this dearth of information, the current study assessed the test-retest reliability of this measure in samples of men and women.

RESULTS

Surprisingly, the somatomorphic matrix demonstrated inadequate reliability for the majority of assessed rating protocols.

DISCUSSION

The implications of this finding on assessment of the muscularity construct are discussed.