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Male body dissatisfaction scale (MBDS): proposal for a reduced model

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Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Aims

To evaluate the psychometric properties of the male body dissatisfaction scale (MBDS) in Brazilian and Portuguese university students; to present a reduced model of the scale; to compare two methods of computing global scores for participants’ body dissatisfaction; and to estimate the prevalence of participants’ body dissatisfaction.

Methods

A total of 932 male students participated in this study. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to assess the scale’s psychometric properties. Multi-group analysis was used to test transnational invariance and invariance in independent samples. The body dissatisfaction score was calculated using two methods (mean and matrix of weights in the CFA), which were compared. Finally, individuals were classified according to level of body dissatisfaction, using the best method.

Results

The MBDS model did not show adequate fit for the sample and was, therefore, refined. Thirteen items were excluded and two factors were combined. A reduced model of 12 items and 2 factors was proposed and shown to have adequate psychometric properties. There was a significant difference (p < 0.001) between the methods for calculating the score for body dissatisfaction, since the mean overestimated the scores. Among student participants, the prevalence of body dissatisfaction with musculature and general appearance was 11.2 and 5.3%, respectively.

Conclusions

The reduced bi-factorial model of the MBDS showed adequate validity, reliability, and transnational invariance and invariance in independent samples for Brazilian and Portuguese students. The new proposal for calculating the global score was able to more accurately show their body dissatisfaction.

No level of evidence Basic Science

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Acknowledgements

Thank you to the development agencies: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do estado de São Paulo (FAPESP; 2014/03093-2, 2015/00228-7), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq; 142315/2014-1) for providing the financial resources for this study. Thank you to the professors (Maria da Graça Vinagre, Célia Simão de Oliveira, Maria Costa, Afonso Cavaco, Filipa Costa, José Santos, and Maria Caramona) and students (Moema Santana, Bianca Martins, Fernanda Maurício, and Andreia Caldeira) who assisted in collecting the Brazilian and Portuguese data.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food and Nutrition, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Campus (Araraquara), São Paulo, Brazil

    Wanderson Roberto da Silva

  2. William James Center for Research (WJCR), Institute of Psychological, Social and Life Sciences (ISPA), Lisbon, Portugal

    João Marôco

  3. Hospital Corporation of America, Physician Services Group, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

    Christopher N. Ochner

  4. Department of Food and Nutrition, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (UNESP), São Paulo State University (UNESP), Rodovia Araraquara-Jaú, km 01, Araraquara, SP, Brazil

    Juliana Alvares Duarte Bonini Campos

Authors
  1. Wanderson Roberto da Silva
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  2. João Marôco
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  3. Christopher N. Ochner
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  4. Juliana Alvares Duarte Bonini Campos
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juliana Alvares Duarte Bonini Campos.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study was approved in Brazil and Portugal by the Ethics Committees for Research Involving Human Beings (UNESP-CAAE 29896214.0.0000.5426, ESEL#1413).

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 5.

Table 5 Reduced version of the male body dissatisfaction scale (MBDS)
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da Silva, W.R., Marôco, J., Ochner, C.N. et al. Male body dissatisfaction scale (MBDS): proposal for a reduced model. Eat Weight Disord 22, 515–525 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-017-0420-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-017-0420-y

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