The PSPP web page was developed by Dr. Ken Fox and Dr. Chuck Corbin to facilitate sharing and use of the PSPP instrument. It is hosted on the Physical Activity and Health Promotion lab web page managed by Dr. Greg Welk, a Ph.D. student of Dr. Corbin and past collaborator on the PSPP. The content below provides guidance on using the PPSP.
OverviewThe Physical Self Perception Profile (PSPP) is a psychological instrument that allows individuals to report their feelings about several aspects of their physical self, including its appearance and capabilities. It is a 30-item questionnaire incorporating five subscales. These measure the degree to which a person feels positive or negative about their competence in sports, their physical condition, physical strength, body attractiveness, and overall physical self-worth.
The PSPP is based on self-esteem theory and designed to help researchers and practitioners understand people’s thoughts about their physical self. It helps answer questions such as:
Fox, K. R., & Corbin, C. B. (1989). The Physical Self-Perception Profile: Development and preliminary validation. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 11, 408–430 |
A Life History of the PSPPIn 2027 the PSPP will have been around for 40 years. In 2025, Ken Fox and Chuck Corbin with the able assistance of Hyeonho Yu and Lisa Moyon decided it was time to investigate its many years of usage. A Google Scholar search was conducted for papers that had cited either the original 1989 publication of the instrument in Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology or the Physical Self-Perception Manual of 1990. Over 2200 verified citations were discovered and a spreadsheet and coding system developed to best assess how the instrument had been used by researchers. This allowed us to summarise the following:
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History and Development
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The Physical Self-Perception Profile (PSPP) was developed as the core of a doctoral dissertation by Professor Ken Fox and supervisor Professor Chuck Corbin at Arizona State University in 1986 and 1987.
After several years in USA, in 1989 Ken Fox returned to the UK to work at the University of Exeter and from 1999 at the University of Bristol where he is Emeritus Professor of Exercise and Health Sciences. Email: [email protected] Chuck Corbin remained at Arizona State University and is Emeritus Professor at the College of Health Solutions. Email: [email protected] Jim Whitehead who was also a doctoral student of Chuck’s developed the Children and Youth Physical Self-Perception Profile (CY-PSPP) based on the PSPP model in 1995 while he was Professor at the University of North Dakota Email: [email protected] Greg Welk, Professor at Iowa State University, also a doctoral student of Chuck’s has published several studies with the Children and Youth Physical Self-Perception Profile and is also manager of the PSPP website. Email: [email protected] Lisa Chase produced a PSPP version for older adults (PSPP-A) for her doctoral dissertation with Chuck Corbin as supervisor. She is now Associate Professor at the University of St Augustine for Health Sciences in Florida Email: [email protected] |
A Note about Response Formats for the PSPP
The structured alternative choice format used in all the original versions of the PSPP was adopted from Harter’s self-perception profiles. Evidence was produced that this format helped to reduce socially desirable responding which can be a problem in self-perception questions. We still believe this to be the case. Contrary to our experience, some researchers report that participants can be confused by the four- choice layout and have chosen to modify the instrument to a 4- or 5- point Likert scale. We appreciate that this format can be advantageous when the PSPP is administered in a bank of other questionnaires that also use a Likert response format. There is very little evidence to show which format produce the most valid results. One paper examined the effect of each format on social desirability (Kalmet & Fouladi, 2008) and found no significant differences. Welk et al. (1997) reported that a Likert version of the CY-PSPP (children) produced a weaker factor structure than the original structured alternative format. Nevertheless, several Likert versions of the PSPP now exist that include the PSPP-R (Lindwall et al., 2011) which has also been translated into several languages, the French PSI scales, and the two principal Spanish adaptations also use this format. |
Self-Esteem Theory and the PSPP
The PSPP was designed in the 1980s to fit with current thinking about the nature and structure of self-esteem. Following theorists such as White (1959), Harter (1978) and Campbell (1984) it was the first instrument to capture the multidimensionality of the physical self, hence there are several subscales in the profile. It also cast these subscales in a hierarchical structure (see Figure 1) with perceptions at a lower level such as perceived sport competence potentially influencing physical self-worth at a higher level. In turn, physical self-worth might be an important contributor to global self-esteem.
The PSPP therefore allows researchers to address the degree to which a person’s view of their body appearance and abilities affects his/her self-esteem and mental well-being. It also allows investigation into how these perceptions influence choice and persistence in a range of health-related behaviors such as physical activity, sport participation and weight management.
An optional addition to the PSPP is the 8-item Perceived Importance Profile. This assesses the degree of importance to the individual attached to each element of their physical self-profile. It allows researchers to address questions such as can people alter the influence of their adequacies and weaknesses on aspects of their well-being or does the importance they attach to a behavior such as physical activity explain why they avoid it or take part?
To find out more about how the PSPP and PIP can contribute to self-esteem theory, access Download F which is a sectioned reference list which includes a book entitled The Physical Self: From Motivation to Well-Being, several book chapters, papers and the 1990 PSPP Manual. All provide a more complete explanation of how the PSPP fits with current thinking on structure and content of self-esteem and self-perceptions.
An optional addition to the PSPP is the 8-item Perceived Importance Profile. This assesses the degree of importance to the individual attached to each element of their physical self-profile. It allows researchers to address questions such as can people alter the influence of their adequacies and weaknesses on aspects of their well-being or does the importance they attach to a behavior such as physical activity explain why they avoid it or take part?
To find out more about how the PSPP and PIP can contribute to self-esteem theory, access Download F which is a sectioned reference list which includes a book entitled The Physical Self: From Motivation to Well-Being, several book chapters, papers and the 1990 PSPP Manual. All provide a more complete explanation of how the PSPP fits with current thinking on structure and content of self-esteem and self-perceptions.
Accessing and Using Different Versions of the PSPP
There are several different versions of the PSPP. The foundational concepts and development process are documented in the original PSPP manual and this includes foundational psychometrics and validity information. Download the PSPP Manual HERE
The primary versions are summarized below along with the foundational references. However, additional information is also available in other papers and studies that have used these instruments. Download the full list of PSPP references HERE
The primary versions are summarized below along with the foundational references. However, additional information is also available in other papers and studies that have used these instruments. Download the full list of PSPP references HERE
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Original PSPP Versions: The original adult version of the PSPP is a 30-item instrument featuring 5 different subscales. It is suitable for use with populations from mid adolescence (15+) onwards. For more detail on development and psychometrics see Fox and Corbin (1989) and Fox (1990). An optional set of items from the Perceived Importance Profile (PIP) are available to provide additional insights.
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Children and Youth PSPP (CY-PSPP): The CY-PSPP is suitable for use with children from eight years to mid adolescence. For more detail on validation and psychometrics see Whitehead (1995), Eklund, Whitehead, and Welk (1997), Welk, Corbin, Dowell, & Harris (1997), and Welk and Eklund (2005). An optional set of items from the Perceived Importance Profile (PIP) are available to provide additional insights.
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Short Clinical PSPP (SC-PSPP): The SC-PSPP It was developed for older people (60+) and those recovering from illness or injury who may be concerned with their health and physical function. This is an 18-item instrument with 3-item subscales to assess physical health, physical function, sport competence, physical strength, attractive body, and physical self-worth. For more detail on validation see Fox et al. (2006), Ferreira, Cruz, Ferreira Salgueiro and Fox (2017) for the Portuguese version, and Vlachopoulos, Leptokaridou and Fox (2014) for the Greek version. Download C
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PSPP for Adults (PSPP-Adult): The PSPP-Adult was developed specifically to capture the physical self-perceptions of older adults. It is a 30-item instrument with 5 subscales to assess sports competence, functional capacity, health/disease, attractiveness and physical self-worth. More detail is available in Chase (1991)
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Translations of the PSPP
The PSPP, CY-PSPP, and the SC-PSPP have been translated into different languages. Most widely used are French and Spanish versions. Details on these translations are provided below followed by guidelines for translations into other languages
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French versions: In the late 1990s, Ninot and colleagues produced a modified French language version of the PSPP and retitled it the Physical Self Inventory (PSI-25) (Ninot et al., 2001). This version retained the PSPP subscale content and added a 5-item General Self-Worth scale. It subsequently spawned several other versions including a shorter 18-item version (PSI-S) for adolescents and adults (Maïano et al., 2008), a very short form 12-item version (PSI-VS) (Maïano et al., 2008), and a PSI-VS-ID (Maïano et al., 2009) for populations with intellectual disabilities and a one-item subscale version (PSI-6) (Ninot et al., 2006). The PSI-6 is designed for repeated measurement to investigate the dynamics of short-term change and stability in self-perceptions and has helped provide a unique contribution to self-theory dynamics (Delignières et al., 2004; Ninot et al., 2005). These French language instruments have been carefully developed and evidence of psychometric integrity provided. Versions of these instruments have been translated back into English, and into German, Portuguese, Turkish, and Spanish.
Spanish versions: Physical self-perceptions research in Spain, particular with children and young people, has been prolific and has also influenced South American researchers using the Spanish language. The first straight translation into Spanish appears to have been created by a U.S. master’s student (Collins, 1993) working with a Hispanic population. A further straight translation of the PSPP was produced by Atienza et al. (2004). Goñi and colleagues (2004a, 2004b) produced the Cuestionnario de El Autoconcepcion (CAF) for adolescents and children. A Basque language version of this instrument - Autokontzeptu Fisikoaren Itaunketa (AFI) (Esnaola & Goñi, 2006) was also developed. Around the same time another PSPP translation took place. Moreno and colleagues produced the Physical Self-Concept Questionnaire (PSQ or PSCQ) (Moreno & Cervello, 2005). Later a children’s version (C-PSCQ) (Moreno et al., 2007) was made available. These instruments have retained and acknowledged the basic PSPP subscale structure. Other Languages: The PSPP has been translated into many other languages. Evidence for the rigour of the translation or the integrity, stability and validity of the new instrument is very variable. Researchers who require a different language version of the PSPP must search carefully and assess the degree of psychometric support there is of any new version they chose to administer. Click HERE to access a list of key references we have found for these translated versions Download G. |
Need to translate the PSPP?
If you need a translated version of the PSPP:
Let us know about publication of a new version. Contact [email protected] |