Resumen:
The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a widely used measure of a core facet of the positive body image
construct. However, extant research concerning measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across a large number of
nations remains limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset – with data collected between
2020 and 2022 – to assess measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender
identities, and age groups. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated that full scalar invariance was
upheld across all nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups, suggesting that the unidimensional BAS-2
model has widespread applicability. There were large differences across nations and languages in latent body
appreciation, while differences across gender identities and age groups were negligible-to-small. Additionally,
greater body appreciation was significantly associated with higher life satisfaction, being single (versus being
married or in a committed relationship), and greater rurality (versus urbanicity). Across a subset of nations
where nation-level data were available, greater body appreciation was also significantly associated with greater
cultural distance from the United States and greater relative income inequality. These findings suggest that the
BAS-2 likely captures a near-universal conceptualisation of the body appreciation construct, which should
facilitate further cross-cultural research.
