Children’s Awareness of Healthy Behaviors - Validity of Beauty & Health and Dietary Knowledge & Habits Scales - Health Psychology Report Volume 6 Issue 4

Sep 4, 2026

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Validation study examining children’s awareness of healthy behaviors through the Beauty & Health (B&H) and Dietary Knowledge & Habits (DKH) scales. The procedure involved 721 children grouped by age (5–7 and 8–9) and education. Findings describe how the B&H scale (18 items) uses body-shape illustrations to assess health- and gender-related attributions, while the DKH scale (50 illustrations) evaluates nutritional knowledge and eating habits via knowledge–habit cohesion. Results show good psychometric values and applicability for ages 5–9.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Background

Participants and Procedure

Results

Beauty & Health (B&H) scale

Dietary Knowledge & Habits (DKH) scale

Conclusions

Key words

Authors’ contributions

health psychology report · volume 6(4), 􀀟􀀞􀀝8 original article Małgorzata Lipowska 1 · A,B,D, E,F,G Mariusz Lipowski 2 · A,B,C,D, E,F Children’s awareness of healthy behaviors – validity of Beauty & Health and Dietary Knowledge & Habits scales background The WHO identifies eating habits as the main factor determining body weight in both children and adults. Obesity and underweight are related to health as well as physical attractiveness. Children become aware of the role of healthy nutrition and its relationship to one’s body shape in early childhood. In order to perform a direct study in children aged 5 to 9, the Beauty & Health (B&H) and Dietary Knowledge & Habits (DKH) scales were developed. participants and procedure The validation procedure involved 721 children assigned to two groups divided with regard to age and education: years 0 to 1 (ages 5-7) and years 2 to 3 (ages 8-9) . results The B&H scale allows one to determine how children attribute social success and health-related behaviors to women and men with different body shape. The B&H scale is composed of 18 questions. Some of them are supported with illustrations presenting various healthy behaviors. The child is asked to match each activity to oneof three pictures presenting adults with different body shapes (slim, normal, and obese) . The survey includes questions regarding social functioning of persons with the different body types. The questionnaire was prepared in two variants, for girls and boys, referring to women and men, respectively. The DKH scale comprises 50 illustrations of healthy and unhealthy food products. DKH consists of two subscales. The first assesses the child’s nutritional knowledge; the researcher shows various pictures of food while the child decides to which group (healthy, unhealthy) these meals belong. The second subscale allows the assessment of the child’s eating habits. The child is shown the same pictures and asked how often he/she eats these meals (very often, only sometimes, very rarely or never). Using the same pictures twice allows an estimate to be made of the cohesion of the child’s nutritional knowledge and their eating habits. conclusions The Beauty & Health and Dietary Knowledge & Habits scales show good psychometric values and can be successfully used to study children aged 5-9 for both scientific purposes and to help assess the effectiveness of school health programs. key words scale validation; gender stereotypes and health; nutritional knowledge; body image; elementary schoolers organization – 1: Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland, 2: Department of Health Psychology, Gdansk University of Physical Education and Sport, Gdansk, Poland authors’ contributions – A: Study design · B: Data collection · C: Statistical analysis · D: Data interpretation · E: Manuscript preparation · F: Literature search · G: Funds collection corresponding author – Prof. Mariusz Lipowski, Department of Health Psychology, Gdansk University of Physical Education and Sport, 1 Kazimierza Górskiego Str., 80-336 Gdansk, Poland, [e-mail: mariusz.lipowski@awfis.gda.pl](e-mail: mariusz.lipowski@awfis.gda.pl) [to cite this article](to cite this article) – Lipowska, M., & Lipowski, M. (2018). Children’s awareness of healthy behaviors – validity of Beauty & Health and Dietary Knowledge & Habits scales. Health Psychology Report, 6(4), 361–374. [https://doi](https://doi). org/10.5114/hpr.2018.74688 received 18.01.2018 · reviewed 19.02.2018 · accepted 20.02.2018 · published 28.12.2018 Małgorzata Lipowska, Mariusz Lipowski Background “A healthy mind in a healthy body” is a well-known proverb that emphasizes the relationship between physical and mental health. Concern for health is inseparable from concern for the body and its functioning, fitness, and also its appearance (Cash & Smolak, 2011) . The long-term health of a child is rooted in both genetic and environmental factors, and the dynami

FAQs

What do the Beauty & Health (B&H) and Dietary Knowledge & Habits (DKH) scales measure?

The B&H scale evaluates how children attribute social success and health-related behaviors across different body shapes. The DKH scale assesses nutritional knowledge and eating habits using illustrations of healthy and unhealthy foods.

How was the validation study conducted and who participated?

The validation involved 721 children split into two groups by age and education: ages 5–7 and ages 8–9.

What were the study conclusions about using these scales with children aged 5–9?

Both scales demonstrated good psychometric values and can be used for scientific research and for assessing the effectiveness of school health programs.

Sep 4, 2026

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