Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Female Muscularity Scale among Chinese young women

Abstract

Purpose: The Female Muscularity Scale (FMS) was specifically developed for assessing drive for muscularity in women. The current study aimed to translate the FMS into Chinese (FMS-C) and examine its psychometric properties among Chinese young women. Methods: Based on standard procedures, the FMS was translated into Chinese. By using the psych and lavaan packages on R version 4.0.3, the current study examined the factor structure, reliability, and convergent and incremental validity of the FMS-C with a sample of 517 Chinese women college students (M_age = 18.86 years). Results: Results showed a 2-factor structure including attitudes and behaviors of the FMS-C. The internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s α) was .91 for the total FMS-C scale and .89 and .88 for the Attitudes and Behaviors subscales, respectively. Results also revealed evidence for good convergent and incremental validity of the FMS-C. Conclusion: Findings suggest that the FMS-C can be a useful tool to measure both attitudes and behaviors underlying drive for muscularity and muscle tone concerns among Chinese young women.

TANG Chanyuan

Former Graduate Advisee

TANG Chanyuan is a research assistant in applied psychology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, working under Prof. HE Jinbo’s supervision.

HE Jinbo

Assistant Professor in Applied Psychology

My research interests include the mental health of children and adolescents, obesity, eating behaviors, eating disorders, body image, and various advanced quantitative research methods (e.g., structural equation modeling, latent growth curve modeling, finite mixture modeling, meta-analysis).