The validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults BESAA for children

Abstract

Background/aim: Body esteem BE is defined as the self-evaluation of one's own body or appearance. The Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults BESAA consists of three subscales: BE-appearance, BE-weight, and BE-attribution. Though initially developed for adolescents and adults, the use of the scale has recently increased in health-related research on children. This study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the BESAA for children. Materials and methods: The participants in the study were 4th grade children aged 9-10 years in Ankara, Turkey. The validity of the scale was evaluated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were assessed using Cronbach's alpha and Spearman's rho correlation coefficient, respectively. Results: The Turkish version of the BESAA for children includes BE-weight, BE-appearance, and BE-attribution subscales. The scale demonstrated good model fit statistics chi-square/df = 3.41, P