Abstract
This study aimed to validate a short version of the Disordered Eating Attitude Scale (DEAS-s). To this end, 2,902 adult individuals answered the original DEAS and informed age, weight, and height. Data were analyzed using the full-information factor analysis and Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis. Exclusion criteria retained items with adequate values of commonality and factor loadings. Estimation of IRT parameters, the Item Characteristic Curve (ICC), and test information guided the selection of the best quality items. The final model adjustment was evaluated using Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMSR), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), and Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI). The eating attitudes on each level of DEAS-s were described. The analyses were performed on R software and Microsoft Excel version 2013. As results, six items were excluded because of the low communalities and factor loadings, and one more was excluded because of an overlapping on the ICC. The remaining 17 items explained 0.53 of the total variance and had an adequate goodness-of-fit (RMSEA = 0.05; SRMSR = 0.05; CFI = 0.98; TLI = 0.98). The information test is more accurate between the scores 0 and +3. Scores higher or equal to 1.5 identified individuals with disordered eating attitudes. Women, older individuals, and those with a higher body mass index presented more disordered eating; thus, the one-dimensional and short version of DEAS showed a suitable adjustment and may contribute to properly evaluate disordered eating in diverse populations.
Highlights
IntroductionDisordered eating could be defined as all spectrum of problems related to food, from simple diet to clinical eating disorders [1,2]; some publications use the term to refer to patients with eating disorders or diagnostic, others to refer to dysfunctional eating behaviors (such as purgative practices, binge eating and restriction) to lose or control weight, which occur less frequently or in a less severe way than eating disorders diagnostic criteria [3,4,5,6].Disordered eating behaviors are observed mostly in the young female people and described as “epidemic” in teenagers and college students [7,8,9,10] – and are related to debilitating and costly health conditions
Most participants included in the current analyses were women (92.1%), younger than 30 (85.8%) and had a Body mass index (BMI) lower than 24.99kg/m2 (79.9%)
Six items were excluded in the full-information factor analysis because of the low values for communalities and factor loadings. These are the items excluded before performing the Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis: “Do you feel pleasure when you eat?”; “Do you enjoy the feeling of an empty stomach?”; “Do you have good memories related to food?”; “Do you believe that it is normal to eat sometimes just because you are sad, upset or bored?”; “I worry all the time about what I am going to eat, how much to eat, how to prepare food and whether I should eat or not”; and “When I desire a specific kind of food, I know I will not stop eating until I have finished with it”
Summary
Disordered eating could be defined as all spectrum of problems related to food, from simple diet to clinical eating disorders [1,2]; some publications use the term to refer to patients with eating disorders or diagnostic, others to refer to dysfunctional eating behaviors (such as purgative practices, binge eating and restriction) to lose or control weight, which occur less frequently or in a less severe way than eating disorders diagnostic criteria [3,4,5,6].Disordered eating behaviors are observed mostly in the young female people and described as “epidemic” in teenagers and college students [7,8,9,10] – and are related to debilitating and costly health conditions. Disordered eating could be defined as all spectrum of problems related to food, from simple diet to clinical eating disorders [1,2]; some publications use the term to refer to patients with eating disorders or diagnostic, others to refer to dysfunctional eating behaviors (such as purgative practices, binge eating and restriction) to lose or control weight, which occur less frequently or in a less severe way than eating disorders diagnostic criteria [3,4,5,6]. Among validated questionnaires worldwide [7,19,20], Eating Attitude Test (EAT) and Bulimic Investigatory Test of Edinburgh [7,19,20] had their psychometric properties evaluated for adolescents in Brazilian context [21,22]. All of them were developed in the context of clinical eating disorders screening, and EAT, has many limitations 23
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