Psychometric properties of the Polish version of the body attitude test

Abstract

Background. Polish studies have not been focused on measures which assess attitude toward one's own body. The purpose of the present study was to develop the Polish version of the Body Attitude Test (BAT) and examine its reliability. Methods. The study included 48 patients with anorexia nervosa, 39 patients with bulimia nervosa as well as 115 female university students who had never suffered from any eating disorder. The mean age was 18.69 years (SD = 3.52) in women with anorexia nervosa, 22.28 years (SD = 3.79) in women with bulimia nervosa as well as 20.53 years (SD = 1.79) in women without a current eating disorder. The mean duration of illness was 3.31 years (SD = 2.71) in patients suffering from anorexia nervosa and 5.10 years (SD = 2.92) in patients with bulimia nervosa, respectively. Results. The BAT demonstrates satisfactory levels of internal reliability (α = 0.892). The BAT was strongly related with the Eating Disorder Inventory subscales: drive for thinness (r = 0.687, p < 0.001), ineffectiveness (r = 0.643, p < 0.001) and body dissatisfaction (r = 0.634, p < 0.001) and the Self-Esteem Inventory subscale: familial self-esteem (r = -0.601, p < 0.001). Discussion. The results support the criterion validity of the BAT which is able to differentiate clinical from non-clinical subjects. Conclusions. The Polish version of the BAT could be used as an appropriate measure assessing subjective attitude towards the body in women with and without eating disorders in Poland.