The figure rating scale as an index of weight status of women on videotape.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether Stunkard's Figure Rating Scale (FRS) is a valid and reliable index of weight status when an unbiased observer assigns the figure ratings of adult women viewed on videotape.


METHODS
Seventy-two women drawn from a community sample participated in a videotaped study in which height and weight were measured. The FRS is a rating scale displaying 9 silhouettes ranging from very thin to very obese. Women were assigned a figure rating "in-person" by a research assistant (FRS used as a 17-point scale) and by additional research assistants viewing women only on videotape (FRS used as both a 17- and 9-point scale). Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated for in-person figure ratings, mean videotape figure ratings, and BMI.


RESULTS
BMI and in-person figure ratings were highly correlated (r = 0.91), as were BMI and both mean 17-point videotape figure ratings and mean 9-point videotape figure ratings (r = 0.89 and 0.87, respectively). Inter-rater agreement for in-person figure ratings and mean 17-point videotape figure ratings was 0.86, and agreement between in-person figure ratings and mean 9-point videotape figure ratings was 0.82.


CONCLUSIONS
The FRS can be used as an index of women's weight status by an unbiased observer, with subjects viewed in-person or on videotape.
Cardinal
Tiffany M
TM
Center for Human Growth and Development, 300 North Ingalls Building, 10th Floor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0406, USA. tcardina@umich.edu
Kaciroti
Niko
N
Lumeng
Julie C
JC
D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000145:classification*; D014743:Videotape Recording; D044465:White People