Reliability and Validity Assessment of Female Objectified Body Consciousness Scale-Urdu (FOBCS-U)

Abstract

Using feminist theory about the social construction of the female body, a 16-item scale was developedto measure the female objectified body consciousness (FOBCS-U) in young university students. The reliability and validity assessment of the scale was carried out. Data was collected from 300undergraduates with age range 18-25 ((Mean age =21.54, SD = 1.70) selected through convenient sampling online.Support for internal consistency reliability and convergent validity was garnered. Findings suggest that the FOBCS-Uscale scores were internally consistent and stable over a period of 4 weeks. Analysis further indicated that both kinds of validity were at acceptable levels where FOBCS-U discriminated young undergraduates’ level of body objection from their satisfaction with life. The scale was also associated with the four closely related constructs of Objectified Body Consciousness i.e., depression, anxiety, stress and appearance anxiety. Thus, these results support the use of the FOBCS-U to assess critical aspects of body image in research and practice contexts.