Cross-cultural validation of the Social Physique Anxiety Scale

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Social Physique Anxi ety Scale (SPAS; Hart, Leary & Rejeski, 1989) with 1,724 female undergradua te students enrolled in physical education classes at universities in China (n = 420), Japan (n = 423), Korea (n = 412), and Taiwan (n = 469). Three S PAS measurement models were evaluated in terms of factor structure, interna l consistency, and construct validity. A 7-item reduced model was derived t hat tons an acceptable model for the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean samples. Cross-cultural comparisons revealed that the Japanese participants scored highest on social physique anxiety (SPA), followed by the Korean, and Chine se participants, respectively. The results are discussed in terms of select ing an appropriate measure of SPA and potential explanations for the obtain ed cross-cultural differences in SPA.