title: Development and Validation of the Body Size Scale for Assessing Body Weight Perception in African Populations.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The social valorisation of overweight in African populations could promote high-risk eating behaviours and therefore become a risk factor of obesity. However, existing scales to assess body image are usually not accurate enough to allow comparative studies of body weight perception in different African populations. This study aimed to develop and validate the Body Size Scale (BSS) to estimate African body weight perception.
  
  
  METHODS
  Anthropometric measures of 80 Cameroonians and 81 Senegalese were used to evaluate three criteria of adiposity: body mass index (BMI), overall percentage of fat, and endomorphy (fat component of the somatotype). To develop the BSS, the participants were photographed in full face and profile positions. Models were selected for their representativeness of the wide variability in adiposity with a progressive increase along the scale. Then, for the validation protocol, participants self-administered the BSS to assess self-perceived current body size (CBS), desired body size (DBS) and provide a "body self-satisfaction index." This protocol included construct validity, test-retest reliability and convergent validity and was carried out with three independent samples of respectively 201, 103 and 1115 Cameroonians.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The BSS comprises two sex-specific scales of photos of 9 models each, and ordered by increasing adiposity. Most participants were able to correctly order the BSS by increasing adiposity, using three different words to define body size. Test-retest reliability was consistent in estimating CBS, DBS and the "body self-satisfaction index." The CBS was highly correlated to the objective BMI, and two different indexes assessed with the BSS were consistent with declarations obtained in interviews.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The BSS is the first scale with photos of real African models taken in both full face and profile and representing a wide and representative variability in adiposity. The validation protocol proved its reliability for estimating body weight perception in Africans.
authors.affiliation: CNRS, UMI 3189 «Environnement, Santé, Société», Faculté de Médecine Secteur Nord, Marseille, France.|CNRS, UMR 7206 «Eco-anthropologie et Ethnobiologie», Musée de l'Homme, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.affiliation: CNRS, UMR 7206 «Eco-anthropologie et Ethnobiologie», Musée de l'Homme, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Jonathan Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Bernard
authors.affiliation: CNRS, UMR 7206 «Eco-anthropologie et Ethnobiologie», Musée de l'Homme, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Amandine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ponty
authors.affiliation: CNRS, UMR 7206 «Eco-anthropologie et Ethnobiologie», Musée de l'Homme, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Amadou
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ndao
authors.affiliation: CNRS, UMR 7206 «Eco-anthropologie et Ethnobiologie», Musée de l'Homme, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Amougou
authors.affiliation: CNRS, UMR 7206 «Eco-anthropologie et Ethnobiologie», Musée de l'Homme, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.|MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: Rihlat
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saïd-Mohamed
authors.affiliation: CNRS, UMR 7206 «Eco-anthropologie et Ethnobiologie», Musée de l'Homme, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pasquet
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity; D000328:Adult; D044383:Black People; D015992:Body Mass Index; D049628:Body Size / Q000502:physiology*; D002163:Cameroon; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012675:Senegal; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014892:Weight Perception / Q000502:physiology*