Percep!rraf ar~dMo!orSkills, 2000, 90,930.

Q Perceptual and Motor S U s 2000

OLD AND NEW SCALES FOR THE ASSESSMENT

O F BODY IMAGE

ALBERT STUNKARD
Deparfmettf of Psychiatry, U~tiuersityof Penrzsyluarria

Srrmma~y.-Two new carefully constructed figure rating scales showed no greater

validity than did the first such scale to be developed, as determined by the correlation
between scale scores and body mass index and body weight.

Gardner, Stark, Jackson, and Friedman (1999) described the careful de-
velopment of two scales for the assessment of body image, a 2-figure scale
and 13-figure scale (2). Since 22 body image scales have previously been
published (4), the question arises, "Why another?" Justification should lie in
the demonstration of greater validity than that of previous scales (correlation
between scale values and measured values of Body Mass Index and weight).
Such validity had been assessed in only three of the previous 22 reports.
Surprisingly, the estimates of validity of the two new scales were no
higher and may have been lower than that of the first figure rating scale to
be developed, that of Stunkard, Sorensen, and Schulsinger in 1984 ( 3 ) . For
Body Mass Index Pearson correlation coefficients were .62 for the 2-figure
scale, .58 for the 13-figure scale, and .67 for the Stunkard scale. For body
weight the corresponding correlation coefficients were .47 for the 2-figure
scale, .46 for the 13-figure scale, and .59 for the Stunkard scale. The perfor-
mance of the Stunkard scale is surprising in the light of criticisms of it by
Gardner, et a/. ( I , 2) and because it was used in only a truncated, 5-figure
version. Four of its nine figures, used in the assessment of obesity, depicted
a larger body than those in the scales of Gardner, et a/. (1, 2).
REFERENCES
1. GARDNER, R. M.. FRIEDMAN.B. M., &JACKSON, N. A. (1998) Methodological concerns when
using silhouettes to measure body image. Percepfrral and Motor Skills, 86, 387-395.
2. GARDNER, R. M., STARK, K., JACKSON, N. A,, & FRIEDMAN,B. N. (1999) Development and
validation of two new scales for assessment of body image. Percepluaf artd Motor Skills,
89, 981-993.
3. STUNKARD, A. 1.. SOMNSEN. T., & SCHULSINCER. F. (1983) Use of the Danish Adoption
Register for the study of obesity and thinness. In S S Kety, L. P. Rowland, R. L. Sid-
nian, & S. W. Matthysse (Eds.), The ge~teticsof ttezirol~,gir~if
arrdpsychiatric disorders. New
York: Raven. Pp. 115-120.
4. THOMPSON, K., &GRAY,J. (1995) Development and val~dailonof a new body irn~geassess-
ment scale. Jozrrnaf of PersorlafifqAssess~nenr,64, 258-269.
Accepted April 2.5, 2000
- ~~p -

'Address en uiries to Albert Stunkard, M.D., Weight and Eating Disorder Program, Depart-
ment of Psyc? i University of Pennsylvania, 3600 Market Street, Ste. 734, Philadelphia, PA
latry,
19104.