BODY-IMAGE TESTING SYSTEM - A MICROCOMPUTER PROGRAM FOR ASSESSING BODY-IMAGE

An interactive computer program, the Body Image Testing System (BITS), was developed to assess different components of the body image constr uct. The BITS program displays a frontal and side view of a human body . Subjects can change the size of each of nine body parts independentl y (face, neck, shoulders, arms, chest, breasts, stomach, hips, and thi ghs). Subjects interact with the program until satisfied that the imag e created matches the instructions. Subjects also provide satisfaction ratings for the nine body segments. To validate BITS, a variety of bo dy image and eating disturbance measures was obtained from over 500 su bjects. A factor analysis of actual-ideal differences and a perceptual distortion measure, derived using multiple regression, resulted in fi ve orthogonal factors. Factor 1 measured actual-ideal discrepancy for weight-sensitive body parts. Factor 2 measured the perceptual distorti on of weight-sensitive body parts. Additional factors measured percept ion of face and neck, shoulders, and breasts. The five factor scores p lus the satisfaction ratings were strongly associated with actual body size, body fat percentage, and circumference of specific body parts. In addition, there were strong associations between the BITS and other measures of body image. Finally, BITS scores accounted for between 15 and 60% of the variance in measures of eating disturbance.