Abstract
Men and women initiate and maintain a regular exercise regime in the pursuit of a muscular body. Despite muscularity being a likely reason to exercise, there is currently no physical self-concept (PSC) instrument that includes muscularity. The purpose of this study was to develop and assess items that operationalize muscularity as two constructs: muscle tone (MT), muscle bulk (MB), in contrast to the known constructs: muscle strength (MS), and bodyfat (BF). Thirty-two items were developed (8items/ construct). Academic experts (N=18) agreed to rate the content relevance and representativeness, and to provide evaluative comments. The data were analyzed according to Rogers (2010). The median scores for the relevance of the items ranged from fair to excellent, the representativeness ranged from good to excellent. Conceptually, the experts agreed with the ideas of MT and MB, although they offered suggestions for modifications. Some items were interpreted as having negative connotations. Lack of clarity regarding the self versus other perspective, and whether ratings reflected actual or perceived viewpoints were raised as issues. A lack of common understanding and breadth of words used to achieve multiple items emerged as problematic. Finally, whether the concepts of MT and MB apply to the whole body was questioned. In conclusion, perspective, experience, evaluative implications of language and type of expertise of the panel need to be considered when opertaionalizing muscularity.
