Translation and validation of a Chinese version of the body talk scale for women and men
Abstract
Body talk has received increasing research attention in recent years, with accumulating evidence supporting the link between body talk and eating and body image disturbances. However, research on body talk in China is still relatively scarce and generally focused on fat talk, especially in women, and much remains unknown about muscle talk and positive body talk for both Chinese women and men. To promote a better understanding of body talk in the Chinese context, the present study adapted the Body Talk Scale (BTS) into Chinese Mandarin (i.e., C-BTS) and evaluated the factor structure and psychometric properties of the C-BTS in Chinese adult women and men. The English version of the BTS was translated into Chinese Mandarin with standard procedures. With 300 Chinese women (Mage = 29.48 years, SD = 7.26) and 300 men (Mage = 29.36 years, SD = 6.81), we examined the factor structure and gender invariance of the C-BTS, as well as internal consistency reliability, test–retest reliability, and construct validity, including convergent, concurrent, and incremental validity of the C-BTS. The results indicated that, consistent with the development study of the BTS, the C-BTS had three subscales (i.e., Negative Fat Talk, Negative Muscle Talk, and Positive Body Talk) and good reliability and validity. The findings demonstrate that the C-BTS can be a useful measure of body talk in both Chinese women and men.
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).
LU Yining
Current Undergraduate Advisee in Applied Psychology
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.
ZHANG Hengyue
Current Undergraduate Advisee in Applied Psychology
