Body Attitudes Questionnaire Explained

Body Attitudes Questionnaire
Purpose:	assessment of eating disorder

The Ben-Tovim Walker Body Attitudes Questionnaire (BAQ) is a 44 item self-report questionnaire divided into six subscales that measures a woman's attitude towards her own body. The BAQ is used in the assessment of eating disorders. It was devised by D.I. Ben-Tovim and M.K. Walker in 1991.^[1]

Sub-scales

The six subscales measured by the BAQ are:

Overall fatness
Self disparagement
Strength
Salience of weight
Feelings of attractiveness
Consciousness of lower body fat

Foreign-language versions

Portuguese version

The BAQ was the first body attitudes scale to be translated into Portuguese. The validity of the Portuguese language version was proven in a test conducted on a cohort of Brazilian women who speak Portuguese as their native language. The test-retest reliability was 0.57 and 0.85 after a one-month interval. The test was conducted by Scagliusi et al.^[2]

Japanese version

The BAQ was translated into Japanese and tested on 68 males and 139 females in Japan and 68 Japanese males living in Australia (Kagawa et al.) The scores were assessed against 72 Australian men using the English-language version as well as scores from previous female Australian participants. There was a significant difference between the Japanese and Australian groups (p,0.05). The BAQ was deemed adequate for use in both Japanese males and females.^[3]

References

Psychological Medicine . 21 . 3 . 775–84 . 1991 . Ben-Tovim DI, Walker MK . The development of the Ben-Tovim Walker Body Attitudes Questionnaire (BAQ), a new measure of women's attitudes towards their own bodies . 1946865 . 10.1017/S0033291700022406 . 27314049 .
Perceptual and Motor Skills . 101 . 1 . 25–41 . 2005 . Scagliusi FB . Psychometric testing and applications of the Body Attitudes Questionnaire translated into Portuguese. . 16350606 . 10.2466/PMS.101.5.25-41 . etal.
Eating Behaviors . 8 . 3 . 277–84 . 2007 . Kagawa M, Uchida H, Uenishi K, Binns CW, Hills AP . Applicability of the Ben-Tovim Walker Body Attitudes Questionnaire (BAQ) and the Attention to Body Shape scale (ABS) in Japanese males and females . 17606224 . 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2006.11.002 .