Body appreciation around the world: Measurement invariance of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age.

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.

Public engagement in government officials' posts on social media during coronavirus lockdown.

BACKGROUND: Social media has been a common platform to disseminate health information by government officials during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about the determinants of public engagement in officials' posts on social media, especially during lockdown. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to investigate how the public engages in officials' posts about COVID-19 on social media and to identify factors influencing the levels of engagement. METHODS: A total of 511 adults aged 18 or over completed an online questionnaire during lockdown in Iraq. Levels of engagement in officials' posts on social media, trust in officials and compliance of government instructions were assessed. RESULTS: Fear of COVID-19 and trust in officials were positively associated with compliance of government instructions. Trust in officials was also associated with active engagement in officials' posts on social media, including commenting, posting and sharing of the posts. CONCLUSIONS: Trust in government has been established during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public engagement in officials' posts is crucial to reinforce health policies and disseminate health information.