The aim of this study was to test the generalisability of the factor pattern, structural parameters, factor correlations and latent mean structure of social physique anxiety and physical self-esteem across gender, age and gender x age. The social physique anxiety scale and general physical self-esteem scale from the physical self-perception profile was administered to high school and university students aged 11-24 years (N = 2334). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the adequacy of a two-factor correlated model in the full sample, and separately by gender, age and gender x age sub-samples. The CFA model satisfied criteria for goodness-of-fit with the data in all sub-samples, the only exception was for females aged 21 and over. Tests of invariance of the factor pattern, structural parameters and correlations across age, gender and age x gender revealed few decrements in goodness-of-fit. Latent means analysis revealed that females had consistently higher levels of social physique anxiety and lower levels of physical self-esteem than males, with the exception of the 11-12 age group. Results extend previous findings that females tend to report higher levels of social physique anxiety and lower levels of physical self-esteem than males by demonstrating that these differences are consistent across age group.

This study examined the effects of culture, gender and age on the structure and mean levels of physical self-concept (PSC) and social physique anxiety (SPA) in adolescents from Portugal and Spain. An additional aim was to examine the effects of these variables on the PSC-SPA correlation. Adolescents (N = 3528, age range 12-18 years) completed the social physique anxiety scale and physical self-worth scale from the physical self-perception profi le. Single-and multi-sample confi rmatory factor analyses supported a two-factor model of PSC and SPA in the overall sample and within and across the culture, gender and age subsamples. Latent means analyses indicated that females tended to have signifi cantly higher average SPA levels and lower PSC levels relative to males. There was a general downward trend in PSC in males and females in each cultural group. SPA was relatively consistent in females and higher than males in most groups. SPA was relatively similar in males and females in younger age groups (born 1994-1996), but declined in older males. SPA was similar in Portuguese males and females in the youngest age group (born 1996), but males tended to have lower scores in older age groups. Results generally support hypotheses and are discussed relative to self-presentation models and coping with appearance-related stress.