Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Psychometric Validation of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 among Gay and Bisexual Men in China

Body appreciation is defined as the level of acceptance people have for their bodies regardless of size or shape, respect and attendance to bodily needs, and protecting the body from internalization of society’s pressures and standards of beauty.

Gay and bisexual men consistently report greater body image concerns, including lower levels of body appreciation, compared to heterosexual men.

Most research has been conducted with community samples of White sexual minority men in the United States, making it unknown whether body appreciation is a relevant construct in clinical samples of Chinese sexual minority men.

•Measures: Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire Appearance Evaluation subscale (MBSRQ-AE), Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Overall Depression Severity and Impairment Scale (ODSIS), Overall Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scale (OASIS)

•Baseline data come from a clinical trial testing the efficacy of an online LGBTQ-affirmative cognitive behavioral therapy intervention.3

•Model fit was assessed based on several fit indices, convergent and discriminant validity was assessed via bivariate correlations, and concurrent validity was assessed via hierarchical regressions.4,5

•The Institutional Review Board (IRB) Human Subjects Committee at Yale University approved the data collection for the original study.

•Certain model fit indices (e.g., RMSEA) suggested poor model fit, suggesting that replications of this CFA should be conducted with larger samples.

•Given the non-significant role of the minority stress variables as predictors of depression and anxiety, it is possible that minority stress presents differently in a Chinese context.

•Based on psychometric support of the BAS-2, future studies can test how body appreciation may differ between Chinese gay and bisexual men and other groups (i.e., test of measurement invariance).

•Future studies can examine the associations between body appreciation and other types of mental health concerns (e.g., disordered eating) among Chinese gay and bisexual men

1. Tylka, T. L., & Wood-Barcalow, N. L. (2015). What is and what is not positive body image? Conceptual foundations and construct definition. Body Image, 14, 118-129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2015.04.001

2. Nowicki, G. P., Marchwinski, B. R., O'Flynn, J. L., Griffths, S., & Rodgers, R. F. (2022). Body image and associated factors among sexual minority men: A systematic review. Body image, 43, 154-169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.08.006

3. Yi, M., Li, X., Chiaramonte, D., Sun, S., Pan, S., Soulliard, Z., Eisenstadt, B. E., Ljótsson, B., Hagaman, A., & Pachankis, J. (2024). Guided internet-based LGBTQ-affirmative cognitive-behavioral therapy: A randomized controlled trial among sexual minority men in China. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 181, 104605. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2024.104605

4. Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6, 1-55. http://dx.doi.org/10. 1080/10705519909540118

5. Kline, R. B. (2023). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (5th ed.). The Guilford Press.

Humans as Subjects IRB Basic Course completed through CITI training