Is the Social Physique Anxiety Scale Really Multidimensional? Conceptual and Statistical Arguments for a Unidimensional Model

Abstract

Recent research has suggested that the Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS) is a multidimensional rather than a unidimensional measure. The present study challenged this position on both conceptual and empirical grounds. After deleting three questionable items from the SPAS, a series of confirmatory factor analyses were conducted across four samples of women who had completed the scale. Across all samples, the model fit indices (i.e., all > .90) suggested that a nine-item, single factor model of the SPAS is more parsimonious and conceptually clear than a two-factor model. It is recommended that researchers of social physique anxiety begin to use the nine-item version of the SPAS described in this paper.