The appearance intrusions questionnaire: A self-report questionnaire to assess the universality and intrusiveness of preoccupations about appearance defects

This study aims to examine whether Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) related preoccupations might consist of unwanted intrusive cognitions, and if so, their degree of universality, its dimensionality from normality to BDD psychopathology, and their associations with symptom measures. The Appearance Intrusions Questionnaire (AIQ) was designed to assess intrusive thoughts related to appearance defects (AITs). A sample of 410 undergraduate university students completed a former 54-item version of the AIQ. Principal Components Analyses (PCA) and Parallel Analysis yielded a five-factor structure and a reduction to 27 items. The 27-items AIQ was examined in a new sample of 583 non-clinical community participants. Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFAs) grouped the AITs in five factors: Defect-related, Others-related, Concealment, Bodily functions, and Urge to do something. Up to 90% of the participants experienced AITs. The AIQ scores were more associated with BDD, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and body image measures than with worry, suggesting that AITs are closer to obsessional intrusions than to worries. The new AIQ might be a valid and reliable measure of AITs and would help to reliably detect individuals at risk for BDD in nonclinical populations using a brief self-report.