title: Validity of a figure rating scale assessing body size perception in school-age children.
abstract: This study aimed to provide data concerning the validity of a short sequence of face valid pictorial stimuli assessing the perception of body size in school-age children. A sequence of gender and age-appropriate silhouettes was administered to 314 boys and girls aged 6-14 years. The self-evaluations provided by the children correlated significantly with their actual BMI corrected for age. Furthermore, the children's self-evaluations always significantly correlated with the evaluations provided by the three external observers; i.e., both parents and the interviewers. The results indicate that this sequence of pictorial stimuli, depicting realistic human forms appropriate for children, is a valid measure of children's body image. Relevant differences across age groups were also found, indicating that before the age of eight, the correlations between the children's self-evaluations and their BMI or the judgments of the three observers are lower than in the other age groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi 78, 00185, Rome, Italy, caterina.lombardo@uniroma1.it.
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lombardo
authors.forename: Gemma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Battagliese
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pezzuti
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lucidi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D049628:Body Size / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D018594:Human Body; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012574:Schools; D012649:Self Concept; D012858:Size Perception / Q000502:physiology*