The use of the sociocultural attitudes towards appearance questionnaire with middle school boys and girls

Objective: To assess the psychometric validity of versions of the Sociocult ural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ) designed for use wi th middle school girls and boys. Method: As part of a larger study, the SAT AQ was administered to 505 middle school children. To assess concurrent val idity, scales concerning the use of Weight Control and Muscle Building Tech niques as well as the Body Esteem Scale (BES) were also administered. Body mass index (BMI) was also calculated. Results: Both the girls and boys vers ions of the SATAQ showed adequate validity. Two SATAQ subscales, Internaliz ation and Awareness of societal ideals of thinness, were identified for gir ls. For boys, three SATAQ subscales were identified: internalization and Aw areness of a muscular, non-fat ideal and a scale tapping the the importance of a Muscular Look: The subscales and total score showed acceptable concur rent validity. Even after controlling for BMI, the), contributed significan t explained variance for the use of Weight Control Techniques in both boys and girls and use of Muscle Building Techniques in boys. Patterns of relati onships among variables differed by gender. Discussion: The results suggest that sociocultural influences play a role in the use of Weight Control and Muscle Building Techniques for middle school boys although their influence is not as strong as it is for the use of Weight Control Techniques by midd le school girls. The SATAQ seems to be an adequate measure of the nature of some of these influences. (C) 2001 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.