Eating‐related problems among 13‐15 year old Swedish adolescents: Frequency and stability over a one‐year period

Abstract

The frequency of eating-related problems in young adolescents, and their stability over a one-year period, was studied by the RiBED-8 (Risk Behaviours related to Eating Disorders, 8 items) in a community sample of 13-15 year old adolescents who took part in a prospective study with a 2-wave longitudinal design. The RiBED-8 was found to have good reliability and construct validity among the girls, although it did not show equally convincing psychometric properties among boys. With a cut-off of at least three critical answers on the RiBED-8, 28.5-31.0% of the girls were seen as risk cases for the development of eating disorder. Of those girls who were risk cases at Time 1, a majority (68.8%) remained so at Time 2; of those girls who were not risk cases at Time 1, 16.1% became risk cases at Time 2. It is suggested that the RiBED-8 is a brief, easily administered instrument that may be potentially useful in screening for eating-related problems among girls.