Research in Medicine

Background: Body image is defined as the mental picture of each person from his/her body. Serious concerns about body shape are the main feature of eating disorders, which is common in adolescents in milder form. Extreme concerns about body shape are the main feature of eating disorders that in fewer forms are common in adolescent. Since, this kind of concerns are influenced by the culture of each society and are relatively common among adolescents; the aim of current study is to investigate validity and reliability of the Body Shape Questionnaire 8C (BSQ-8C) in a sample of students of Kermanshah University Medical of Science.

Methods: The main tool of this study, BSQ-8C, was translated to Persian. Then validity and reliability of the BSQ-8C were evaluated in a sample of 272 students at Kermanshah University Medical of Science. Data collecting tools were BSQ-8C,BSQ-34 and Appearance Schema Inventory (ASI). Also for data analysis by SPSS  version  16, correlation coefficient, Cronbach's  alpha  and  split  half  coefficient  were  used.

Results: In the sample of students of Kermanshah University Medical of Science, reliability with the internal consistency method by using Cronbach ҆s alpha was 0.82. Moreover, reliability in methods of split-half and retest were 0.79 and 0.74 respectively. As well as the convergent validity between this questionnaire, BSQ-34 and ASI by way  of  correlation  was 0.90 and 0.57 respectively.

Conclusion: BSQ-8C for assessing body shape dissatisfaction in students has high reliability and good concurrent validity.