Psychometric Properties of the Dutch Version of the Eating Disorder Inventory–3

Vicky Lehmann,Annemarie A Van Elburg,Marrie H J Bekker,Johan Braeken,Unna N Danner,Tatjana Van Strien,Annette Breurkens,Machteld A Ouwens

doi:10.1177/2158244013508415

Abstract

The psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the Eating Disorder Inventory–3 (EDI-3) were tested in eating disordered patients ( N = 514) using confirmatory factor analyses, variance decomposition, reliabilities, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses. Factorial validity results supported the 12 subscales, but model fit was impaired by correlated item errors, misallocated items, and redundant subscales. At the composite level, the Bulimia subscale was identified as a largely specific source of information that did not contribute much to its overarching composite. Reliabilities for subscales and composites ranged from .6 to .9. ROC curve analysis indicated good to excellent discriminative ability of the EDI-3 identifying clinical subjects against a reference group. In conclusion, further revisions of the EDI-3 might target the item allocation and (over-)differentiation of subscales and composites to further clarify its structure. For the clinical practice, we advise the careful use of the EDI-3, although it might serve as a good screening tool.

Highlights

The Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) is a widely used selfreport measure to assess attitudes and behaviors concerning eating, weight, and shape as well as psychological traits relevant to eating disorders
We study the psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the Eating Disorder Inventory–3 (EDI-3) focusing on the following major aspects: (1) A series of first- and second-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models will be fitted and compared to shed some more light on the factorial validity of the EDI-3
Testing the psychometric properties of the EDI-3 is of great importance, because EDI is frequently used in clinical practice and research, but independent research about the most recent version is scarce

Summary

Introduction

The Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) is a widely used selfreport measure to assess attitudes and behaviors concerning eating, weight, and shape as well as psychological traits relevant to eating disorders. The EDI is available in its third version (EDI-3; Garner, 2004) and has been developed as an alternative way to evaluate the items and outcome of the former EDI-2 by rearranging of the original items into partly new subscales This reorganization was initiated due to a problematic factor structure and high correlations between subscales of the EDI-2 (Garner, 2004). In his initial validation study, Garner (2004) investigated the psychometric properties of the EDI-3 in a clinical sample from the United States and an international clinical sample from Australia, Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands He derived 12 subscales combining clinical expertise and exploratory factor analyses (EFA). He used the outcomes on the 12 subscales to cluster them to 5 composites based on second-order confirmatory factor models

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