Measurement characteristics of weight concern and dieting measures in 8-10-year-old African-American girls from GEMS pilot studies.
BACKGROUND
Reliability and validity were established for weight concern measures completed by 8-10-year-old African-American girls participating in a pilot obesity prevention program.


METHODS
Two hundred ten girls and parents participated in the program. Girls completed subscales of the McKnight Risk Factor Survey (MRFS) and body silhouette ratings, had height, weight, and body fat measured, wore accelerometers for 3 days, and completed two dietary recalls. Principal components analysis, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability were computed for weight concerns and body image measures along with convergent validity with body mass index (BMI), percent body fat (PBF), physical activity, and dietary intake.


RESULTS
A Moderate Weight Control Behaviors (MWCB) subscale was derived from the MRFS. Overconcern with Weight and Shape (OWS) was a stand-alone scale. Internal consistency estimates for the scales were substantial ranging from 0.71 to 0.84. Test-retest reliabilities were moderate (0.45-0.58). OWS, MWCB, body silhouette rating, and body size discrepancy were positively associated with BMI and PBF. The "like to look" silhouette rating was negatively associated with PBF.


CONCLUSIONS
Weight concern measures had reasonable levels of internal consistency and promising validity, but only moderate test-retest reliability among preadolescent African-American girls. Refinement and further validation of weight concern measures in this population are warranted.
Sherwood
Nancy E
NE
School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA. Nancy.E.Sherwood@HealthPartners.com
Beech
Bettina M
BM
Klesges
Lisa M
LM
Story
Mary
M
Killen
Joel
J
McDonald
Tiffany
T
Robinson
Thomas N
TN
Pratt
Charlotte
C
Zhou
Ainong
A
Cullen
Karen
K
Baranowski
Janice
J
D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D001828:Body Image; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D004038:Diet, Reducing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents; D011594:Psychometrics; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States