Social Physique Anxiety Scale: Psychometric Evaluation and Development of a Chinese Adaptation

The Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS) is a popular measure of individual anxiety related to body image. This study assessed the psychometric properties of the 12-, 9-, 8- and 7-item versions of the SPAS. Two cross-sectional studies recruited 466 Chinese university students. Study 1 (n = 273) evaluated the construct validity and internal consistency of the SPAS. Study 2 (n = 193) further assessed the construct validity, factorial validity, internal consistency, convergent validity and divergent validity of the SPAS. The results indicated that none of the existing SPAS versions possess good psychometric properties suitable for the Chinese student population. In short, a new 7-item version of the SPAS that is more suitable for measuring social physique anxiety among Chinese university students. The implications of our results and future research directions are discussed.