SOCIOCULTURAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS APPEARANCE SCALE - 3 (SATAQ-3)

The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire 3 is a revision of our first two scales (Heinberg & Thompson, 1995; Thompson et al., 1999). It has subscales that assess internalization (general, athlete), pressures, and information. Reliability and validity information are contained in Thompson et al., 2004. See also Calogero et al, 2004 for data with an eating disordered sample. Both of these articles are downloadable from this website (see recent publications in VITA). This scale is provided free of cost to those who wish to use it for non-commercial (i.e., you make no money) purposes.


Internalization-General: Items: 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12, 15, 16, 27
Internalization-Athlete: Items: 19, 20, 23, 24, 30
Pressures: Items: 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22, 26
Information: Items: 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 28, 29
Reverse-keyed items: 3, 6, 9, 12, 13, 19, 27, 28

Please read each of the following items carefully and indicate the number that best reflects your agreement with the statement.

Definitely Disagree = 1
Mostly Disagree = 2
Neither Agree Nor Disagree = 3
Mostly Agree = 4
Definitely Agree = 5

  1. TV programs are an important source of information about fashion and "being attractive."        ______
  2. I've felt pressure from TV or magazines to lose weight.                                                            ______
  3. I do not care if my body looks like the body of people who are on TV.                                     ______
  4. I compare my body to the bodies of people who are on TV.                                                     ______
  5. TV commercials are an important source of information about fashion and "being attractive."              ______
  6. I do not feel pressure from TV or magazines to look pretty.                                                       ______
  7. I would like my body to look like the models who appear in magazines.                                     ______
  8. I compare my appearance to the appearance of TV and movie stars.                                          ______
  9. Music videos on TV are not an important source of information about fashion and "being attractive." ______
  10. I've felt pressure from TV and magazines to be thin.                                                                   ______
  11. I would like my body to look like the people who are in movies.                                                  ______
  12. I do not compare my body to the bodies of people who appear in magazines.                              ______
  13. Magazine articles are not an important source of information about fashion and "being attractive."   ______
  14. I've felt pressure from TV or magazines to have a perfect body.                                                  ______
  15. I wish I looked like the models in music videos.                                                                           ______
  16. I compare my appearance to the appearance of people in magazines.                                           ______
  17. Magazine advertisements are an important source of information about fashion and "being attractive." ______
  18. I've felt pressure from TV or magazines to diet.                                                                          ______
  19. I do not wish to look as athletic as the people in magazines.                                                         ______
  20. I compare my body to that of people in "good shape."                                                                ______
  21. Pictures in magazines are an important source of information about fashion and "being attractive."   ______      
  22. I've felt pressure from TV or magazines to exercise.                                                                   ______
  23. I wish I looked as athletic as sports stars.                                                                                    ______
  24. I compare my body to that of people who are athletic.                                                                 ______
  25. Movies are an important source of information about fashion and "being attractive."                 ______
  26. I've felt pressure from TV or magazines to change my appearance.                                             ______
  27. I do not try to look like the people on TV.                                                                                  ______
  28. Movie starts are not an important source of information about fashion and "being attractive."    ______
  29. Famous people are an important source of information about fashion and "being attractive."     ______
  30. I try to look like sports athletes.                                                                                                  ______