Abstract
A Spanish version of the Body Attitude Test (BAT) is presented. It was validated with 165 eating disorder patients (79 anorexia nervosa, 86 bulimia nervosa) and 220 schoolgirls from the general population. Factor analysis allowed the extraction of four factors, as in the original questionnaire, but with different item loadings on each. Taken together, these four factors accounted for 67.1% of the variance. The alpha reliability coefficient was 0.92 in both groups. The test-retest reliability with a one-week interval was 0.91 in a subgroup of 34 eating disorder patients and in a subgroup of 43 girls from the general population. The difference between the mean scores of the girls from the general population and the anorexics on one hand and the bulimics on the other was highly significant (p<0.0001). On the basis of the discriminant validity study, the use of a cut-off point of 41 — which gives a sensitivity of 75.1% and a specificity of 72.7% — is recommended.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Garner D.M., Garfinkel P.E.: Body image in anorexia nervos a: Measurement, theory and clinical implications. Int. J. Psychiatry Med., 11, 263–284, 1981.
Hsu L.K.J., Sobkiewicz T.A.: Body image disturbances: Time to abandon the concept for eating disorders? Int. J. Eating Disord., 10, 15–30, 1991.
Butters J.W., Cash T.F.: Cognitive-behavioral treatment of women’s body-image dissatisfaction. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol., 55, 889–897, 1987.
Cooper P.J., Taylor M.J., Cooper Z., Fairburn C.G.: The development and validation of the Body Shape Questionnaire. Int. J. Eating Disord., 6, 485–494, 1987.
Thompson J.K.: Body image disturbance: Assessment and Treatment. New York, Pergamon Press, 1990, pp. 55–71.
Probst M., Vanderycken W., Van Coppenolle H., Vanderlinden J.: The Body Attitude Test for patients with an eating disorder. Psychometric characteristics of a new questionnaire. Eating Disord.: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention, 3, 133–145, 1995.
Garner D.M., Garfinkel P.E.: The Eating Attitudes Test: An index of the symptoms of anorexia nervosa. Psychol. Med., 9, 273–279, 1979.
Probst M., Van Coppenolle H., Vandereycken W., Goris M.: Body image assessment in anorexia nervosa patients and university students by means of video distortion: A reliability study. J. Psychosom. Res., 36, 89–97, 1992.
Santonastaso P., Favaro A., Ferrara S., Sala A., Vidotto G., Dalle Grave R., Probst M.: Confronto degli atteggiamenti corporei di un gruppo di pazienti con disturbi dell’alimentazione con un campione di studentesse: validazione italiana del Body Attitudes Test, (Body attitudes in patients with eating disorders and in a sample of schoolgirls: Italian validation of the Body Attitudes Test (BAT). Rivista Sperimentale di Freniatria, 69, 423–436, 1995.
Toro J., Castro J., García M., Pérez P., Cuesta L.: Eating attitudes, sociodemographic factors and body shape evaluation in adolescence. Br. J. Med. Psychol., 62, 61–70, 1989.
Raich R.M., Rosen J., Deus J., Pérez D., Requena A., Gross J.: Eating disorder symptoms among adolescents in the United States and Spain: A comparative study. Int. J. Eating Disord., 11, 63–72, 1992.
Gila A., Castro J., Toro J., Salamero M.: Subjective body-image dimensions in normal and anorexic adolescents. Br. J. Med. Psychol., 71, 175–184, 1998.
American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental disorders: DSM-IV. Washington, D.C., APA, 1994.
Collins J.K., Beumont P.J.V., Touyz S.W., Krass J., Thompson P., Philips T.: Variability in body shape perception in anorexic, bulimic, obese and control subjects. Int. J. Eating Disord., 6, 633–638, 1987.
Offer D., Boxer A.M.: Normal adolescents development: Empirical research findings. In: Lewis M. (Ed.) Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins, 1991, pp. 266–280.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gila, A., Castro, J., Gómez, M.J. et al. The body attitude test: Validation of the Spanish version. Eat Weight Disord 4, 175–178 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03339733
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03339733