Psychometric properties of the Mandarin Chinese version of the thin ideal internalization assessment among young Chinese women

Abstract

The internalization of the thin ideal is closely associated with body image and eating disturbances among young Chinese women. This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of a Chinese adaptation of the Thin Ideal Internalization Assessment (C-THIINA). Given that the original THIINA (Kidd et al., 2023) includes items related to behaviors, we simultaneously explored and compared the factor structure of the full C-THIINA and the C-THIINA deleting the behaviors (C-THIINA-D). Results of factor analysis (n = 681) showed that the 2-factor bifactor model of the C-THIINA-D had a better fit compared to all alternative models that were tested. In this model, the general factor was well-defined, but the specific factors were not, supporting the use of the global factor to conceptualize the C-THIINA-D for young Chinese women. The present study demonstrated C-THIINA-D has adequate convergent validity, concurrent validity, internal consistency reliability, and test-retest reliability among young Chinese women. Furthermore, results supported incremental validity and predictive validity of the C-THIINA-D relative to the Internalization Thin/Low Body Fat subscale of Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearances Questionnaire-4-Revised and the latest version of the Ideal Body Stereotype Scale. Findings suggested the C-THIINA-D is a useful instrument to measure the thin ideal internalization of young Chinese women. It can prompt further study of thin ideal internalization in China and advance knowledge about body image and eating disturbances of Chinese women.