The physical self-attribute questionnaire: development and initial validation

The Physical Self-attribute Questionnaire was developed for use in conjunction with the Physical Self-perception Profile to model cognitive facets of perceived competence, certainty, importance, and discrepancy from ideal to each of the physical subdomains measured by the latter (Strength, Attractive Body, Condition, and Sport). To this end, two studies were conducted. Study 1 examined the factor structure, test-retest reliability, and validity of the questionnaire in a sample of 154 (28 men, 126 women) undergraduate health students. Reliability and validity were acceptable, and confirmatory factor analysis indicated good fit for a four-factor solution. In Study 2, the reliability, validity, and factor structure was again confirmed in a sample of 120 (83 men, 37 women) undergraduate students recruited from exercise classes. Results of these two studies suggest that the Physical Self-attribute Questionnaire is a viable tool to measure the underlying cognitive facets of subdomain-specific physical self-esteem.