Is the Social Physique Anxiety Scale Really Multidimensional? Conceptual and Statistical Arguments for a Unidimensional Model
in Journal of Sport and Exercise PsychologyClick name to view affiliation
Recent research has suggested that the Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS) is a multidimensional rather than a unidimensional measure. The present study challenged this position on both conceptual and empirical grounds. After deleting three questionable items from the SPAS, a series of confirmatory factor analyses were conducted across four samples of women who had completed the scale. Across all samples, the model fit indices (i.e., all > .90) suggested that a nine-item, single factor model of the SPAS is more parsimonious and conceptually clear than a two-factor model. It is recommended that researchers of social physique anxiety begin to use the nine-item version of the SPAS described in this paper.
Kathleen A. Martin and W. Jack Rejeski are with the Department of Health and Exercise Science at Wake Forest University, P.O. Box 7868, Reynolda Station, Winston-Salem, NC 27109. Mark R. Leary is with the Department of Psychology at Wake Forest University, P.O. Box 7778, Reynolda Station, Winston-Salem, NC 27109. Edward McAuley and Susan Bane are with the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Illinois, Louise Freer Hall, 906 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL61801. Request reprints from K.A. Martin.
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