The Children's Body Image Scale: reliability and use with international standards for body mass index.

OBJECTIVE: To test the reliability of the Children's Body Image Scale (CBIS) and assess its usefulness in the context of new body size charts for children. METHOD: Participants were 281 primary schoolchildren with 50% being retested after 3 weeks. The CBIS figure scale was compared with a range of international body mass index (BMI) reference standards. RESULTS: Children had a high degree of body image dissatisfaction. The test-retest reliability of the CBIS was supported. CONCLUSIONS: The CBIS is a useful tool for assessing body image in children with sound scale properties. It can also be used to identify the body size of children, which lies outside the healthy weight range of BMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]