Broad Conceptualization of Beauty

Abstract

A theme of broadly conceptualizing beauty has emerged in interviews of adolescent and adult women who espouse a positive body image. Broadly conceptualizing beauty is perceiving many looks, appearances, and body sizes/shapes as beautiful and drawing from inner characteristics (e.g., confidence) when determining an individual’s beauty. This chapter first discusses the relevance of broadly conceptualizing beauty to theory, research, and practice on girls’ and women’s positive embodiment. Next, this chapter presents the Broad Conceptualization of Beauty Scale (BCBS), which assesses women’s attitudes toward other women’s beauty. The BCBS has been shown to yield evidence of reliability and validity among community samples of women. It can also be combined with an item from the Body Appreciation Scale-2, which assesses self-beauty, to obtain a more comprehensive assessment of women’s tendency to broadly conceptualize beauty (i.e., within themselves and others). The chapter ends by discussing future research and clinical considerations for this construct.