Physical Self-Perceptions in Adolescence

Abstract

This study examines the generalizability of the form, structural parameters, and latent means of a hierarchical multidimensional model of physical self-perceptions in adolescents from three cultures. A children's version of the physical self-perception profile (PSPP-C) was administered to samples of British, Hong Kong, and Russian high school students. A structural equation model that hypothesized a hierarchical structure with global self-esteem as a super ordinate construct and physical self-worth as a domain-level construct governing the PSPP-C subdomains fit the data adequately. Tests of the cross-cultural generalizability of the proposed model supported the invariance of the factor pattern and model parameters across the samples. Latent means analysis suggested that the factor means were significantly higher in the British sample, a finding that supports the results of cross-cultural studies of self-esteem in other domains.

The Multidimensional Structure of Physical Self-Concept

“…Factor analyses of participants' responses to the 24 items on the PSPP, which comprise its four sub-scales, corroborate the quadri-dimensional structure here proposed in adolescent (Hagger et al, 2003), collegeage (Asci et al, 1999;Page et al, 1993) and middleaged samples (McAuley et al, 1997;Sonstroem et al, 1992). This has allowed us to conclude that the four subscales of the PSPP measure different aspects of physical self-perception at these different ages.…”

“…It is important to consider that the PSPP is the instrument most widely used to measure this construct. Many studies have been dedicated to analyzing its psychometric properties and have largely confirmed the hypothesized factor structure of physical self-concept consisting of four sub-domains (Asci, Asci, & Zorba, 1999;Hagger, Biddle, Chow, Stambulova, & Kavussanu, 2003;McAuley, Mihalko, & Bane, 1997;Sonstroem, Speliotis, & Fava, 1992). Then again, overlap between items from the scales of physical self-evaluation and attractive body has often been detected (Sonstroem et al, 1992) when performing a factor analysis including items from the specific scales as well as the physical self-evaluation scale.…”

Cross‐cultural validity and measurement invariance of the social physique anxiety scale in five European nations

“…British and Spanish participants appeared to exhibit the highest levels of SPA and Estonian participants the lowest, with the levels of SPA for the Swedish and Turkish samples situated in between. It is interesting to note that recent research has suggested a similar pattern for physical self‐esteem when comparing individuals from Western (British and Spanish), Northern (Swedish), and Eastern Europe (Russian and Turkish; Hagger et al, 2003; Hagger et al, 2004). This may appear to be a paradox, given that physical self‐esteem and SPA tend to be negatively correlated.…”

How Physical Education Teachers’ Interpersonal Behaviour is Related to Students’ Health-Related Quality of Life

“…Second, our model was tested in a sample from a single cultural group. Further evidence for the validity and reliability of our proposed model would be provided by testing the invariance of the model across different cultural groups (c.f., Hagger, Biddle, Chow, Stambulova, & Kavussanu, 2003;Sheldon et al, 2004). Third, the current study provided a cross-sectional examination of our proposed model, which is not informative of the causal relations between these constructs.…”