Psychometric evaluation of Body Appreciation Scale for Children short forms among Australian children

The Body Appreciation Scale-2 for Children (BAS-2C) is a widely used, psychometrically robust measure of body appreciation in children. However, in time-limited or school-based settings, briefer measures may reduce participant burden and improve data quality. This study examined the psychometric properties of two three-item trait short forms of body appreciation among Australian children aged 10–12 years (N = 303), using data from a larger project evaluating a school-based body image intervention. Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) and multi-group CFA tested whether the short forms replicated the BAS-2C's unidimensional, gender invariant factor structure. Further assessments of psychometric properties involved composite reliability (McDonald's ω), four-week test-retest reliability, construct and convergent validity. For both 3-item forms, findings supported a unidimensional, gender-invariant factor structure. Reliability was acceptable for girls but weaker for boys. Validity evidence was strong, with strong correlations with the 10-item BAS-2C and moderate-to-strong correlations with related constructs of functionality appreciation, self-compassion, and wellbeing. Overall, findings provide preliminary support for both 3-item short forms for brief, group-level use with children aged 10–12, but caution should be applied given the weaker reliability for boys across both short forms. Future research should refine items with a view to enhancing reliability for boys.