Personality and Individual Differences 49 (2010) 794798

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Personality and Individual Differences

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Comparison of video distortion and gural drawing scale for measuring and predicting body image dissatisfaction and distortion
Rick M. Gardner *, Dana L. Brown
University of Colorado Denver, Campus Box 173, P.O. Box 173364, Denver, CO 80217-3364, USA

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Body image disturbance (BID) is conceptualized as having perceptual and attitudinal components that require separate measurement considerations. The perceptual component refers to the accuracy of body size judgment or body distortion, while the attitudinal component refers to satisfaction about body size. Two of the most common techniques employed for measuring BID are gural drawing scales and video distortion. This study utilized a within subjects design with 92 undergraduate students to compare methodologies and evaluate predictors of body image dissatisfaction and distortion. Participants completed a computerized video distortion method as well as the BIASBD, a reliable and valid gural drawing scale capable of measuring body size dissatisfaction and distortion. Results revealed that the gural drawing scale was less accurate in body size distortion as participants overestimated body size more than with video distortion. Participants also showed signicantly higher levels of dissatisfaction (actual minus ideal size) on the gural drawing scale compared to the video distortion methodology, although these differences did not exist when comparing actual minus ideal size. BMI and gender were signicant predictors of body dissatisfaction in both methodologies. No signicant predictors of body size distortion for either method were identied. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 12 January 2010 Received in revised form 18 June 2010 Accepted 5 July 2010 Available online 31 July 2010 Keywords: Body image Body size estimation Figural drawing scales Video distortion methodology Body size dissatisfaction

1. Introduction Body image disturbance (BID) is an important aspect of several psychopathologies, especially eating disorders. BID is commonly thought to be comprised of two components: a perceptual component and an attitudinal component. Slade (1988) denes body image as the picture we have in our minds of the size, shape and form of our bodies and our feelings concerning these characteristics and ones constituent body parts (p. 20). The mental picture corresponds to the perceptual component while the thoughts and feelings correspond to the attitudinal component. Several studies have documented that the perceptual and attitudinal components are independent of one another in non-clinical populations (Cash & Green, 1986; Dolan, Birtchnell, & Lacey, 1987; Gardner, 2001; Garner & Garnkel, 1981; Mable, Blance, & Galgan, 1986). It is, therefore, important that both components be measured when assessing BID. Several techniques have been developed for measuring the components of BID including gural drawing scales, questionnaires, and examination of cognitive, affective, and behavioral functioning. Two of the most commonly employed techniques are gural drawing scales and video distortion methods. Figural
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 303 986 1863. E-mail address: Rick.Gardner@ucdenver.edu (R.M. Gardner). 0191-8869/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.07.001

drawing scales, also referred to as silhouette or contour line drawings, consist of a series of frontal images ranging from thin to obese. Individuals typically are asked to select two different images; one that most represents their current or perceived body size and one that most represents their ideal body size. The discrepancy between these two ratings represents a measure of body dissatisfaction. A few of these scales also permit the measurement of body size distortion. Gardner and Brown (2010) have recently reviewed the psychometric properties of those scales with documented reliability and validity. In the video distortion methodology investigators have developed computer software programs for measuring body size distortion and body dissatisfaction by allowing participants to modify the size and/or shape of a digitized image of their body. Both gural drawing scales and video distortion methodologies have advantages as well as disadvantages. The chief advantages of gural drawing scales are the quick administration and the ability to collect group data. Furthermore they require no specialized equipment for stimulus presentation or scoring. However, many of these scales either lack documentation of psychometric properties or have poor reliability and validity (Gardner & Brown, 2010). The video distortion methodology allows for a more accurate representation of the participants body as it uses an actual digital image of the individual. It also permits a very accurate measurement of perceived body size distortion, typically to a fraction of a

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percent. In some instances video distortion allows for measurement distortions in body shape as well. Like gural drawing scales it allows for measurement of both perceived and ideal size, with the discrepancy again being used as a measure of body dissatisfaction. Disadvantages of this methodology are that data collection is considerably more time consuming and group data collection is not possible. While numerous studies on body image have been conducted with both these techniques, to our knowledge there has never been a study in which the same participants had both body size distortion and body dissatisfaction measured with both methodologies in order to examine how the measurements compare. There are several known predictors of body image dissatisfaction and body size distortion. For instance, studies have demonstrated a relationship between body size distortion and eating pathology, with body size overestimations occurring in individuals with eating disorders (Cash & Deagle, 1997; Sepulveda, Botella, & Antonio Leon, 2002; Smeets, Smit, Panhuysen, & Ingleby, 1997). Depression in females has also been positively correlated with body size distortion (Fabian & Thompson, 2006; Grubb, 1993; McCabe, Ricciardelli, Sitaram, & Mikhail, 2006; Taylor & Cooper, 1992; Thompson & Thompson, 1986). Numerous factors have been associated with body image dissatisfaction including gender (Muth & Cash, 1997; Tiggemann & Pennington, 1990), BMI (Lu & Hou, 2009), exposure to thin media images (Dalley, Buunk, & Umit, 2009), parental comments (Rogers, Paxton, & Chabrol, 2009), and menstrual cycle (Jappe & Gardner, 2009). In this study we investigate the following: (1) a comparison of the video distortion and gural drawing methodologies in body image assessment using well established instruments; (2) comparison of predictors of BID using both methodologies; and (3) the effect of weighing individuals either before or after data collection on body image assessment. It is hypothesized that the video distortion methodology will be more accurate than the gural drawing scale in measuring BID and that both methodologies will accurately identify predictors of BID. Finally, it is hypothesized that weighing participants before body image assessment measurement will result in greater size distortion and greater body dissatisfaction. 2. Methods 2.1. Participants Ninety-two college undergraduate students enrolled in psychology classes at the University of Colorado Denver volunteered to participate, including 66 women and 26 men. Womens average age was 22.02 (4.22) and mens was 23.35 (7.63). Sixty-seven participants (73%) identied themselves as White, 9 (10%) as Hispanics, 7 (8%) as Asians, 4 (4%) as African Americans, and 5 (5%) as various other ethnic groups. The average Body Mass Index (BMI = weight (kg)/height (m)2) of women was 23.38 (4.16) and of men was 25.96 (5.01), a difference which was signicant (t(90) = 2.57, p < .05). On average, women participants fell within the desirable BMI range of 2025 (American Medical Womens Association, 1995) while the average for men participants slightly exceeded this range. Researchers had no knowledge of participants with eating disorder pathology. 2.2. Materials The gural drawing scale used was the Body Image Assessment ScaleBody Dimensions (BIASBD) developed by Gardner, Jappe, and Gardner (2009). The scale consists of 17 contour line drawings of male and female bodies ranging from very thin to very obese

which were arranged in random order. The gures were generated from anthropometric surveys and stereo photometric data developed by the United States Air Force Materiel Command. The Air Force Research Laboratory developed a computer program that produced human body-dimension data for nearly any size man or woman, based on individual height and weight (Cheng, Obergefell, & Rizer, 1994). The BIASBD scale was created using this body-dimension data to construct gural line drawings for weight values ranging from 60% below average to 140% above average for both males and females. According to the most current National Center for Health Statistics data (NCHS, 2004), the average man aged 2074 years is 69.5 in. tall with a weight of 191 lb, with a BMI of 27.8. A woman in the same age range has a mean height of 64 in. with a weight of 164.3 lb, or a BMI of 28.2. The resulting gural drawings reect BMI values in men ranging from 16.68 to 38.92 and in women ranging from 16.92 to 39.48, with 5% changes in BMI values. Clothing, hair, and facial features were deliberately omitted from the drawings to avoid possible ethnic identication and to focus the observers attention on body shape and size. Participants are asked to select both the gure that most closely resembles their actual size as well as the size they would like to be ideally on two separate sheets of paper. The discrepancy between perceived size and ideal size represents body dissatisfaction. Further details regarding the BIASBD scale can be found in Gardner et al. (2009). Psychometric properties of the BIASBD scale included testretest reliability over 2 weeks of .86 for current perceived size and .72 for ideal size, exceeding Nunnallys (1970) minimum criterion of .70. Concurrent validity with BMI was .76 (Gardner et al., 2009). These values were comparable or superior to other gural drawing scales (Gardner & Brown, 2010). The BIASBD is one of only a very few gural drawing scales that has the capability of measuring body size distortion in addition to body dissatisfaction (Gardner & Brown, 2010). 2.3. Apparatus A computer software program designed by Gardner and Boice (2004) was used to examine perceived body size and ideal body size as well as body dissatisfaction and body size distortion. The method of adjustment and the adaptive probit estimation are two methodologies within the software program. In the method of adjustment, a static digital image of the participants frontal prole is randomly distorted between 20% and 30% too wide or too thin. Using the mouse keys, the participant adjusts the displayed image until the gure matches perceived body size. Ideal body size is measured using the same procedure, with the difference between a participants perceived body size and adjusted ideal body size representing body dissatisfaction. Adaptive probit estimation is a psychophysical procedure that calculates a participants body size distortion as well as their ability to detect changes in body size. On a given trial, a static video image of the frontal prole of a participant is distorted either too wide or too thin so a participant will appear thinner or wider than they actually are. The participant is asked to judge if the image is wider or thinner than they actually are. Participants are shown a total of 320 images (8 blocks of 40 images each) with varying percentages of distortion as suggested by Watt and Andrews (1981). Following data collection, the computer program calculates both the percent of body size distortion as well as the percent of body change necessary in order to be noticeable to the participant. Body size distortion is represented by the point of subjective equality, which is the point at which a participant reports that the presented image is equal to their perceived size. This value is calculated as the size necessary for the participant to report that the same image is too wide 50% of the time and too thin 50% of the time. The

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percent of change that is necessary to be detectable by the participant is represented by the just noticeable difference (JND) values. The JND is the amount of change in body size the participant would require to detect a change in body size 50% of the time. The JND is dependent upon the participants processing sensory information and as such is a measure of the participants sensory detection of changes in body size (Gardner, 1996). For a detailed explanation of adaptive probit estimation the reader is referred to Gardner and Boice (2004). 2.4. Procedure Participants reported individually to the laboratory to complete the assessments. Demographic information including age, ethnicity, height, and weight were recorded for each participant. Researchers alternated the administration of the height and weight measurements so that approximately half the female participants and half the male participants were weighed before assessment and half were weighed after assessment. Participants were asked to judge both their perceived body size and the size they would like their body to be ideally using both the BIASBD gural drawing scale as well as the computerized video distortion methodology. The order of presentation was not randomized as previous studies have indicated no signicant carryover effect. 3. Results Percentage of body size image distortion was calculated using the BIASBD gural drawing scale and the video distortion software. In order to analyze the data from the gural drawing scale, each drawing was converted to a BMI value. Each of the 17 gural drawings represented the body dimensions of an individual, male or female, of a certain weight. For example, a man who selected his perceived size as the gural drawing corresponding to 95% of the average weight on the gural drawing scale selected a gural drawing that had a corresponding BMI of 26.41, which is 95% of the average male BMI of 27.8 used to construct the scale. Assume that the participants actual BMI is 25.02. The percent of body distortion can then be calculated by taking (BMI perceived BMI actual)/BMI actual 100. In this example, body size distortion was then determined to be (26.41 25.02)/25.02 100 = 5.56%. This means that this individual overestimated his body size by 5.56%. A similar procedure is used to determine a participants body image dissatisfaction. For example, assume the above male chose the gural drawing corresponding to 80% of the average gure on the scale as his ideal body size, which corresponds to a BMI of 22.24. This means that he has a perceived BMI of 26.41 and wishes ideally to have a BMI of 22.24. As noted earlier, the discrepancy between perceived and ideal body size is a measure of body dissatisfaction. He therefore ideally wishes to be 15.79% smaller than his perceived size. For the video distortion methodology using the method of adjustment, the computer software automatically computes the comparable percentage body size distortion for perceived size and the percentage change the participant desires for their ideal body size. For the adaptive probit estimation methodology, the point of subjective equality represents the percentage of body size distortion. Perceived BMI values can also be directly computed for these techniques. For example, an individual who has a BMI of 20 and who overestimates their body size by 10% can be said to have a perceived BMI of 22. If the BIASBD scale is a valid measure of body size, then a signicant correlation should be obtained between the gural drawing selected and ones BMI. The correlation obtained was r = .67 (p < .005) indicating good concurrent validity. In a previous study

with self-reported height and weight the correlation was slightly higher (r = .76, p < .005; Gardner et al., 2009). Convergent validity between the BIASBD and the video distortion methodology was found by correlating the percent of body size distortion measured by the BIASBD with the video distortion point of subjective equality (r = .30, p < .005) and the video distortion method of adjustment (r = .43, p < .005). Convergent validity between the point of subjective equality values and method of adjustment values was r = .70 (p < .005), indicating that both of the video distortion methodologies (method of adjustment and adaptive probit estimation) give similar values of body size distortion. The percentage body size distortion for the BIASBD gural drawing scale and the two video distortion methodologies are shown in Table 1. A value of zero would indicate perfect accuracy in judging body size, while negative numbers reect underestimation and positive numbers overestimation. Table 1 indicates both men and women overestimated their body size with the gural drawing scale by 4.04% and 6.95%, respectively. Participants were most accurate in body size judgments using the body image software with the adaptive probit estimation methodology being most accurate with participants overestimating their body size on average by only .05%, shown as PSE video distortion in Table 1. The method of adjustment resulted in body size underestimations of about 2% for both men and women. A mixed design 2-way ANOVA (2 genders 3 methods) found no signicant difference in body size distortion between genders, nor was there a gender by method interaction. There was a signicant difference between the three methodologies (F2,180 = 15.06, p < .001). An HSD post hoc multiple comparison test revealed no signicant difference between the two video distortion methodologies. However, there was a signicant difference (p < .01) between the BIASBD gural drawing scale and each of the two video distortion methodologies, indicating both video distortion methodologies give signicantly more accurate judgments of perceived body size compared to the gural drawing scale, in which participants generally overestimated their body sizes. The adaptive probit estimation methodology with the computer video distortion method also permits calculation of JND values. As noted earlier, the JND reects the amount of change in body size necessary for a participant to detect a change 50% of the time. The average JND was 2.56 (SD = .81) indicating on average participants needed to see a change of 2.56% in their body size in order to reliably detect that change. There were no signicant differences in JND values between genders. Body dissatisfaction is typically dened as the discrepancy between ones perceived size and the size they would like to be ideally. In this study body dissatisfaction was obtained from the gural drawing scale and method of adjustment video technique. On the gural drawing scale, the participant selected both the drawing they perceived to be equivalent to their size as well as the gure representing the size they would like to be ideally. Similarly, with the video distortion technique of method of adjustment, participants adjusted the video image to their perceived size as well as the size they would like to be ideally. Convergent validity between these two methods was measured by the correlation of the two which was found to be r = .67 (p < .01). Table 2 shows body dissatisfaction as the desired percentage difference between perceived and ideal size for both genders for the gural drawing scale and video distortion methodologies. Both genders desire a smaller image with the gural drawing scale and video distortion. As expected, women wish to be thinner than men with both methodologies. The percentage dissatisfaction is also higher with the gural drawing scale than with the video distortion methodology. A mixed design 2-way ANOVA (2 genders 2 methods) found the difference between genders to be signicant (F1,90 = 5.88, p < .02) and the difference between the gural drawing and video distortion methodologies was highly signicant as

R.M. Gardner, D.L. Brown / Personality and Individual Differences 49 (2010) 794798 Table 1 Percent body image distortion obtained with the BIASBD gural drawing scale and video distortion values of point of subjective equality (PSE), and method of adjustment (MOA). All participants (n = 92) BIASBD gural drawing scale PSE-video distortion Method of adjustment video distortion 6.12 (15.32) .05 (5.80) 2.05 (6.66) Males (n = 26) 4.04 (17.18) .32 (5.17) 1.98 (6.25) Females (n = 66) 6.95 (14.58) .06 (6.06) 2.08 (6.86)

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although no signicance was found for gender, BMI, or weight before or after assessment.

4. Discussion While the BIASBD gural drawing scale has good concurrent validity with BMI as well as acceptable convergent validity with the video distortion methodologies, as was hypothesized it is shown to be less accurate in measuring body distortion as compared to the two video distortion methodologies of method of adjustment and adaptive probit estimation. Participants judging their body size with the gural drawing scale showed a greater level of body size distortion than either of the video distortion methodologies. Figural drawing scales are most frequently used to measure body dissatisfaction, which is most commonly calculated by taking the discrepancy between perceived and ideal size. Both the gural drawing scale and the video distortion methodology gave the predicted nding that most participants wanted to be smaller than they actually are and that women are more dissatised with their perceived body weight than are men. However, the gural drawing scales indicated signicantly higher levels of dissatisfaction compared to the method of adjustment with the video distortion technique, with values nearly 50% higher for men and women. However, these differences disappear when body dissatisfaction is dened as the discrepancy between actual and ideal size. When distortion of perceived body size is eliminated, the video distortion and gural drawing scale methodologies provide more equivalent measures of body dissatisfaction. Measures of body dissatisfaction with adaptive probit estimation were not taken, as participants do not judge their ideal size with this methodology. An important measure taken with the adaptive probit estimation methodology is the JND value, which is the percentage of distortion that must be present before a participant can reliably notice the difference. Our results revealed an average JND of 2.56. We have found this JND value to be approximately the same value in numerous studies in our laboratory, and a similar value has been obtained with patients with anorexia and bulimia (Gardner & Bokenkamp, 1996). This puts into context what magnitude of distortion is practically and meaningfully signicant, as the participant would not reliably perceive distortion below this level. The percentages of body distortion in Table 1 indicate all the distortion levels with the video distortion methodology are below this 2.56% value while each of the distortion levels with the gural drawing scale are well above. Thus, it can be concluded that with the gural drawing scale participants perceived their body as meaningfully distorted too large while no such meaningful distortion exists with either video distortion methodology. The regression model that included BMI and gender accounted for a signicant portion of the variance in body image dissatisfaction as measured by the gural drawing scale and the method of adjustment. Contrary to our prediction, whether participants were weighed before or after assessment did not signicantly improve the models ability to predict body image dissatisfaction, which may be useful information for researchers who take participants height and weight prior to body image assessment. Most importantly, ndings from regression analyses were similar for all methods measuring both body dissatisfaction and distortion, which is further support of the convergent validity ndings mentioned earlier. One limitation of the present study is the unequal number of men and women volunteers. Subsequent studies using gender as a predictor variable should strive for more equal sample sizes. Overall, the video distortion methodology, either with the method of adjustment or adaptive probit estimation, is superior to the gural drawing scale both for measuring distortion and

Table 2 Body dissatisfaction measured with the BIASBD gural drawing scale and the body image video distortion method of adjustment. Values represent average desired percentage smaller between perceived size and ideal size. All participants (n = 92) BIASBD gural drawing scale Method of adjustment video distortion 14.55 (16.77) 8.81 (9.20) Males (n = 26) 9.26 (21.76) 4.71 (10.17) Females (n = 66) 16.64 (14.01) 10.42 (8.33)

Table 3 Body dissatisfaction measured with the BIASBD gural drawing scale and the body image video distortion method of adjustment. Values represent average desired percentage smaller between actual size and ideal size. All participants (n = 92) BIASBD gural drawing scale Method of adjustment video distortion 6.88 (22.01) 10.86 (7.68) Males (n = 26) 5.78 (26.04) 6.69 (8.74) Females (n = 66) 7.31 (20.41) 12.50 (6.60)

well (F1,90 = 13.51, p < .001). There was no signicant interaction between genders and methods. An alternative way of conceptualizing body dissatisfaction is to examine the discrepancy between actual and ideal size, as compared to the above analysis between perceived and ideal size. Table 3 shows body dissatisfaction as the percentage smaller participants wished to be from their actual size for both genders with the BIASBD scale as well as with the method of adjustment. With this conceptualization of body dissatisfaction, a mixed design 2way ANOVA revealed no differences between genders, methods, or interaction. In order to test whether gender, BMI, and weighing participants before and after assessment were predictors of body image dissatisfaction or body distortion, hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted for both the video distortion and gural drawing scale methodologies. Gender and BMI were entered into the rst block and weight before or after was entered into the second block. The analysis for body image dissatisfaction as measured by the gural drawing scale revealed (R2 model = .35, p < .001) that both BMI (b = .59, p < .001; t88 = 6.71, p < .001) and gender (b = .36, p < .001; t88 = 4.04, p < .001) were signicant predictors. The analysis for body image dissatisfaction as measured by the method of adjustment revealed similar results (R2 model = .23, p < .001) for BMI (b = .42, p < .001; t88 = 4.42, p < .001) and gender (b = .39, p < .001; t88 = 4.04, p < .001). Whether participants were weighed before or after assessment was not a signicant predictor of body image dissatisfaction for either the gural drawing scale or the method of adjustment. Analyses were also run for all measures of body distortion including the gural drawing scale, method of adjustment, and the point of subjective equality,

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R.M. Gardner, D.L. Brown / Personality and Individual Differences 49 (2010) 794798 and obesity in youth: Assessment, prevention, and treatment (pp. 193213). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Gardner, R. M., & Boice, R. (2004). A computer program for measuring body size distortion and body dissatisfaction. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 36, 8995. Gardner, R. M., & Bokenkamp, E. D. (1996). The role of sensory and nonsensory factors in body size estimations of eating disorder subjects. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 52, 316. Gardner, R. M., & Brown, D. L. (2010). Body image assessment: A review of gural drawing scales. Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 107111. Gardner, R. M., Jappe, L. M., & Gardner, L. (2009). Development and validation of a new gural drawing scale for body image assessment: The BIASBD. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65, 113122. Garner, D., & Garnkel, P. (1981). Body image in anorexia nervosa: Measurement, theory and clinical implications. International Journal of Psychiatry Medicine, 11, 263284. Grubb, H. (1993). Factors related to depression and eating disorders: Self-esteem, body image, and attractiveness. Psychological Reports, 72, 10031010. Jappe, L. M., & Gardner, R. M. (2009). Body image perception and dissatisfaction throughout phases of the female menstrual cycle. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 108, 7480. Lu, H. Y., & Hou, H. Y. (2009). Testing a model of the predictors and consequences of body dissatisfaction. Body Image, 6, 1923. Mable, H. M., Blance, W. D. G., & Galgan, R. J. (1986). Body-image distortion and dissatisfaction in university students. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 63, 907911. McCabe, M., Ricciardelli, L., Sitaram, G., & Mikhail, K. (2006). Accuracy of body size estimation: Role of biopsychosocial variables. Body Image, 3, 163171. Muth, J. L., & Cash, T. F. (1997). Body-image attitudes: What difference does gender make? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 27, 14381452. National Center for Health Statistics (2004). Mean body weight, height, and body mass index, United States 19602002. Advanced Data No. 347, PHS 2005-1250 (pp. 118). Hyattsville, MD: Author. Nunnally, J. C. (1970). Psychometric theory. New York: McGraw-Hill. Rogers, R. F., Paxton, S. J., & Chabrol, H. (2009). Effects of parental comments on body dissatisfaction and eating disturbance in young adults: A sociocultural model. Body Image, 6, 171177. Sepulveda, A., Botella, J., & Antonio Leon, J. (2002). Body-image disturbance in eating disorders: A meta-analysis. Psychology in Spain, 8, 8395. Slade, P. D. (1988). Body image in anorexia nervosa. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 2022. Smeets, M. A. M., Smit, F., Panhuysen, G. E. M., & Ingleby, J. D. (1997). The inuence of methodological differences on the outcome of body size estimation studies in anorexia nervosa. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 36, 263277. Taylor, M., & Cooper, P. (1992). An experimental study of the effect of mood on body size perception. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 30, 5358. Thompson, J. K., & Thompson, C. (1986). Body distortion and self esteem in asymptomatic normal weight men and women. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 5, 10611068. Tiggemann, M., & Pennington, B. (1990). The development of gender differences in body-size dissatisfaction. Australian Psychologist, 25(3), 306313. Watt, R. J., & Andrews, D. P. (1981). APE: Adaptive probit estimation of psychometric function. Current Psychology Review, 1, 205214.

dissatisfaction. While gural drawing scales are easy to use and allow for group data collection, the present study suggests that they signicantly magnify both the amount of perceived body size distortion and body dissatisfaction (measured in the traditional way as the discrepancy between perceived and ideal size) compared to video distortion methodologies. This may be due partly to the fact that participants must select from one of a number of discrete drawings with the gural drawing scales thus giving less precise measurements than the video distortion methodology. The BIASBD scale used in this study had a greater number of drawings with a smaller increment between drawings than nearly all other scales so that this effect may be even greater with other gural drawing scales. Researchers using gural drawing scales should be aware of their limitations, and whenever circumstances permit should employ one of the several available video distortion programs that permit measurement of body size and/or shape as well as body dissatisfaction. Researchers interested in measuring the JND values will need to use the Gardner and Boice (2004) software, as it is the only one that generates this value. This software is available from the rst author. References
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