Department of Health Science, Sagrado Coração University, Bauru, Brazil.
PLoS One. 2013 Sep 11;8(9):e74649. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0074649. eCollection 2013.
Body checking is considered an expression of an excessive preoccupation with appearance. The first aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a Brazilian Portuguese version of the Body Checking Questionnaire (BCQ). Additionally, we wanted to examine the questionnaire's associations with body avoidance behaviour, body mass index, dietary habits, and the intensity, frequency, and length of physical exercise. Finally, we also examined the differences between the total BCQ score and the individual BCQ factor scores. Differences between active and sedentary persons and between non-dieters and those on weight-loss diets were also analyzed. For the psychometric study, 546 female public university students from four different courses were surveyed. Two minor samples of university students and eating disorders women were also recruited. In the second part of the study, 403 women were recruited from weight-loss programs, gyms, and a university. All participants were verbally invited to participate in the research and voluntarily took part. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit to the original model of the Brazilian BCQ that retained all 23 items. Satisfactory evidence of construct validity and internal consistency were also generated through analysis of factor loadings, t-values, Cronbach's alpha, and construct reliability tests. The results also showed associations among body checking and body avoidance, body satisfaction, social anxiety, body mass index, and the frequency and intensity of physical exercise. Significant differences were found between non-dieters and weight-loss dieters for all BCQ factors and the total BCQ score. For physically active and sedentary persons, a significant difference was only observed for idiosyncratic checking behaviour. In conclusion, the BCQ appears to be a valid and reliable scale for Brazilian research, and the associations and differences found in this study suggest that women at gyms and especially in weight-loss programs should be targeted for future body checking studies.
身体检查被认为是过度关注外表的一种表现。本研究的首要目的是评估巴西葡萄牙语版身体检查问卷（BCQ）的心理测量特性。此外，我们还希望研究该问卷与身体回避行为、体重指数、饮食习惯以及体育锻炼的强度、频率和时长之间的关系。最后，我们还研究了总 BCQ 评分与个体 BCQ 因子评分之间的差异。我们还分析了活跃和久坐人群之间以及非节食者和减肥节食者之间的差异。在心理测量研究中，我们调查了来自四门不同课程的 546 名女性公立大学学生。我们还招募了两个较小的大学生样本和饮食失调女性。在研究的第二部分，我们从减肥计划、健身房和一所大学招募了 403 名女性。所有参与者均被口头邀请参加研究并自愿参加。验证性因子分析显示，巴西 BCQ 的原始模型拟合良好，保留了所有 23 个项目。通过因子负荷、t 值、Cronbach's alpha 和结构可靠性测试的分析，也产生了令人满意的结构有效性和内部一致性的证据。研究结果还表明，身体检查与身体回避、身体满意度、社交焦虑、体重指数以及体育锻炼的频率和强度之间存在关联。在所有 BCQ 因子和总 BCQ 评分方面，非节食者和减肥节食者之间存在显著差异。对于活跃和久坐人群，仅在特质性检查行为方面观察到显著差异。总之，BCQ 似乎是一种适用于巴西研究的有效且可靠的量表，本研究中发现的关联和差异表明，未来的身体检查研究应针对健身房的女性，尤其是减肥计划中的女性。
