Stigma consciousness refers to an individual difference in the extent to which members of stereotyped groups believe that their stereotyped status permeates interactions with out-group members. This investigation examined whether stigma consciousness contributed unique variance in predicting mental well-being, and eating and positive body image outcomes (i.e., depression, self-esteem, body appreciation, intuitive eating, emotional eating) after controlling for experienced weight stigma (EWS), including fat microaggressions (FM), and internalized weight bias (IWB). Study participants (N = 288) were recruited through a Qualtrics research panel, all of whom were required to be at least 18 years old with a BMI > 25. In hierarchical regressions predicting self-esteem, depression, body appreciation, and intuitive eating, stigma consciousness significantly accounted for 3.7-20.0 % of unique variance beyond EWS, FM, and IWB. Stigma consciousness was not associated with emotional eating and did not predict depressive symptoms after accounting for weight stigma. The belief that one is being judged according to stereotypes may not be sufficient to induce occurrences of emotional eating, nor contribute uniquely to depression symptoms above and beyond weight stigma. These findings indicate that stigma consciousness is not redundant with existing weight-related constructs such as FM, IWB, and EWS in predicting self-esteem, body appreciation, and intuitive eating. These findings further indicate that the expectation that an individual is being judged based on stereotypes related to their identity is associated with negative psychological outcomes. Developing interventions to empower individuals and buffer against the harmful effects of stigma consciousness is imperative.

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.

Within the body functionality and body image research, there is an absence of psychometrically validated measures for capturing functionality appreciation as a state-like construct. To address this, we conducted an extensive psychometric analysis of a state version of the Functionality Appreciation Scale (FAS; Alleva et al., 2017), initially offered by Alleva et al. (2024b), across two online studies. Exploratory factor analyses among a UK-based community sample of 583 adults (18-85 years; age M = 34.66) led to the extraction of a 7-item, unidimensional model of S-FAS scores, which presented adequate composite reliability and good patterns of construct validity (i.e., convergent, concurrent, incremental). Using confirmatory factor analyses, we cross-validated the optimal model among a second community sample of 295 adults (18-78 years; age M = 38.65) from the United Kingdom. Results showed that the unidimensional model of S-FAS scores had adequate fit, demonstrated discriminant validity, and provided additional evidence of measurement invariance (up to latent mean level) across gender identity (women, men) and time (i.e., at pre-test and post-test). Our findings further showed that the S-FAS is sensitive to experimental manipulation and thus accurately captures changes in state functionality appreciation. Overall, the S-FAS is a psychometrically valid measure for assessing functionality appreciation as a state-like construct in future research and practice.