Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS)

Social physique anxiety is social psychological variable derived from theories of self presentation and impression management that reflects an individual’s perceived worry or concern with the presentation of the physique in situations in which others are perceived to be evaluating them (Hart, Leary, & Rejeski, 1989; Leary & Kowalski, 1990). Social physique anxiety is important because it has been shown to be related to salient psychological and behavioural factors associated with health.

For example, social physique anxiety is associated with physical self-esteem (Kowalski, Crocker, & Kowalski, 2001), body image (Chad & Spink, 1996), dissatisfaction with appearance and weight (Crawford & Eklund, 1994), eating attitudes (Haase & Prapavessis, 1998) and motivation to avoid of health-related behaviours, such as physical activity. Overall, females are at higher risk to develop social physique anxiety disorders