Objectified Body Consciousness Scale

About: This scale is a self-report measure of body consciousness. The

OBCS has three subscales;
Body Surveillance A measure of defining the body by how it looks, as
opposed to how it feels.
Body Shame - A measure of whether someone believes they are a bad
person because they do not meet the cultural standard for what a body
should look like.
Appearance Control Beliefs A measure of whether or not a person
believes they can control their own appearance, or if it is controlled by
other things.
Items: 24
Reliability:
Internal consistency for the OBCS = (Cronbachs =0.75)
Validity:
There were significant correlations between the OBCS body shame
scale and sedentary individuals with disordered eating, and also
physically active individuals (Greenleaf & McGreer, 2006).
There was also a positive correlation between the body shame scale
and two sub-scales of the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance
Questionnaire-3 (Internalization-General Scale (r = .66) and the
Internalization-Athletic Scale (r = .21)).
Scoring:

Questions 5, 6, 9, 10, 11,

12, 14, 16, 19, 23
Questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8,
13, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22,
24

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree

Somewhat
Disagree

Neither
Agree nor
Disagree

Somewhat
Agree

Agree

Strongly
Agree

The total score is calculated by finding the sum of the 21 items, after
reverse coding as described above. The total score ranges from 24168, with a higher score indicating a higher body consciousness
References:
Greenleaf C., McGreer, R. (2006). Disordered eating attitudes and selfobjectification among physically active and sedentary female
college students.The Journal of Psychology, 140, 187-198

McKinley, N. M., & Hyde, J. S. (1996). The objectified body

consciousness scale: Development and validation. Psychology of
Women Quarterly, 20, 181-215.

Objectified Body Consciousness Scale

For each item, please circle the answer that best characterizes your attitudes or behaviors.
1 = Strongly Disagree
2 = Disagree
3 = Somewhat Disagree
4 = Neither Agree nor Disagree
5 = Somewhat Agree
6 = Agree
7 = Strongly Agree

1. I rarely think about how

I look.
2. I think it is more
important that my clothes
are comfortable than
whether they look good on
me.
3. I think more about how
my body feels than how
my body looks.
4. I rarely compare how I
look with how other
people look.
5. During the day, I think
about how I look many
times.
6. I often worry about
whether the clothes I am
wearing make me look
good.
7. I rarely worry about
how I look to other people.
8. I am more concerned
with what my body can do
than how it looks.
9. When I cant control my
weight, I feel like
something must be wrong
with me.
10. I feel ashamed of
myself when I havent
made the effort to look my
best.
11. I feel like I must be a
bad person when I dont
look as good as I could.

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree

Somewhat
Disagree

Neither
Agree nor
Disagree

Somewhat
Agree

Agree

Strongly
Agree

12. I would be ashamed for

people to know what I
really weigh.
13. I never worry that
something is wrong with
me when I am not
exercising as much as I
should.
14. When Im not
exercising enough, I
question whether I am a
good enough person.
15. Even when I cant
control my weight, I think
Im an okay person.
16. When Im not the size I
think I should be, I feel
ashamed.
17. I think a person is
pretty much stuck with the
looks they are born with.
18. A large part of being in
shape is having that kind
of body in the first place.
19. I think a person can
look pretty much how they
want to if they are willing
to work at it.
20. I really dont think I
have much control over
how my body looks.
21. I think a persons
weight is mostly
determined by the genes
they are born with.
22. It doesnt matter how
hard I try to change my
weight, its probably
always going to be about
the same.
23. I can weight what Im
supposed to when I try
hard enough.
24. The shape you are in
depends mostly on your
genes.

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree

Somewhat
Disagree

Neither
Agree nor
Disagree

Somewhat
Agree

Agree

Strongly
Agree