Body Investment Scale

Mirror with Makeup and Roses

Researchers and clinicians have long used body image and body dissatisfaction to assess the relationship individuals with eating disorders have with their bodies. Although these can be helpful in determining a person’s perception of their body, a new assessment tool has emerged that goes beyond external image concerns and uncovers the individual’s emotional investment in their body.

This tool is called the Body Investment Scale, and recent studies find that it plays a critical role in uncovering severe eating disorder behaviors and assessing potential risk for self-destructive practices.

What is Body Investment?

Body investment has to do with a person’s feelings and attitudes about their body, the level of care and protection they show for their body, and their comfort with being touched by other people. Unlike body dissatisfaction and body image, body investment not only reveals how a person sees their body, but also uncovers the degree to which they are comfortable with their body and invested in caring for, protecting, and nurturing it [1]. Essentially, body investment reveals a person’s emotional investment in their body and is used to identify self-harming and self-destructive tendencies [2].

Body Investment and Eating Disorders

While numerous research has examined the relationship between body image dissatisfaction and eating disorders, very few have looked at the connection between body investment and eating disorders [3]. A new study, published in the Journal of Eating Disorders in July 2020, uncovers the connection between eating disorders and body investment by conducting a study of ED patients using the Body Investment Scale [4].

What is the Body Investment Scale?

The Body Investment Scale (BIS) is a 24-item scale used to assess people’s emotional investment in their bodies. The BIS scale is divided into four different categories: body attitudes/feelings, body care, body protection, and comfort with physical touch.

Each category has four different items (or statements), and participants rate their level of agreement with each statement using a scale of 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree). Some of the items in the BIS include statements like “I am satisfied with my appearance,” “I believe caring for my body will improve my wellbeing,” and “I like to touch people who are close to me” [5].

Young woman happy with her Body Investment ScaleHigher BIS scores reveal more positive attitudes about the body, greater levels of protection and care for the body, and greater comfort with being touched by other people. Conversely, individuals with low BIS scores are uncomfortable being touched by other people, show a lack of care in protecting their body, and have more negative attitudes about their bodies. Further, those with a low BIS score are much more likely to engage in self-destructive behaviors and are less likely to self-preserve than those with higher body investment [6].

Using the Body Investment Scale, the 2020 study mentioned above assessed the connection between body investment and individuals with eating disorders. The study involved 541 participants in Portugal. Ninety-three of the participants had diagnosed eating disorders and were in a clinical setting, the remaining 448 were comprised of college and high-school students in a non-clinical setting.

The study found that individuals with an ED have significantly lower levels of body investment than those without an ED. Specifically, ED participants reported lower levels of body protection, greater discomfort with being touched by other people, and more negative attitudes and feelings about their bodies [7].

Researchers concluded that the higher the severity in an eating disorder case correlated with lower levels of body investment. Meaning individuals who rank low on the BIS may be suffering from severe eating disorder behaviors. In addition to revealing potential risk for self-harm through ED behaviors, this study (and many others) found that negative body investment is related to feelings of hopelessness, anguish, and stress, and increases a person’s risk for self-destructive behaviors like suicide and non-suicidal self-injury [8].

The Body Investment Scale is an important tool to determine a person’s emotional investment in their body–their feelings towards it, care for it, and protection of it. And as this study reveals, the BIS can be used to uncover potential risk for severe eating disorder behaviors and self-destructive practices.


References:

[1] Cash, T. F., TG. Morrison, R. K., EL. Lantz, M. E. G., CM. Grilo, J. I. H., P. Rohde, E. S., E. Stice, C. N. M., … E. Stice, K. P. (1970, January 1). The Portuguese version of the body investment scale: psychometric properties and relationships with disordered eating and emotion dysregulation. Journal of Eating Disorders. https://jeatdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40337-020-00302-7.

[2] Marco, J. H., Cañabate, M., García‐Alandete, J., Llorca, G., Real‐López, M., Beltrán, M., & Pérez, S. (2017, September 18). Body image and nonsuicidal self‐injury: Validation of the Body Investment Scale in participants with eating disorders. Wiley Online Library. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/cpp.2142.

[3] Cash, T. F., TG. Morrison, R. K., EL. Lantz, M. E. G., CM. Grilo, J. I. H., P. Rohde, E. S., E. Stice, C. N. M., … E. Stice, K. P. (1970, January 1). The Portuguese version of the body investment scale: psychometric properties and relationships with disordered eating and emotion dysregulation. Journal of Eating Disorders. https://jeatdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40337-020-00302-7.

[4] ibid.

[5] ibid.

[6] ibid.

[7] ibid.

[8] ibid.


Sarah Musick PhotoSarah Musick is a freelance writer who specializes in eating disorder awareness and education. After battling with a 4-years long eating disorder, she made it her mission to help others find hope and healing in recovery.

Her work has been featured on numerous eating disorder blogs and websites. When she’s not writing, Sarah is off traveling the world with her husband.


The opinions and views of our guest contributors are shared to provide a broad perspective on eating disorders. These are not necessarily the views of Eating Disorder Hope, but an effort to offer a discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals.

We at Eating Disorder Hope understand that eating disorders result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors. If you or a loved one are suffering from an eating disorder, please know that there is hope for you, and seek immediate professional help.

Published August 12, 2020, on EatingDisorderHope.com
Reviewed & Approved on August 12, 2020, by Jacquelyn Ekern MS, LPC