Psychometric properties of the eating disorder examination questionnaire: Factor analysis and measurement invariance by race/ethnicity and gender

Abstract

ObjectiveThe Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) was originally validated in non-Hispanic White women and has become widely used as an assessment tool for research on eating pathology in college students. However, the original factor structure has generally failed to replicate across various samples, especially among diverse populations. The current study examined the factor structure and measurement invariance of the EDE-Q in a large sample of racially/ethnically diverse college men and women. MethodParticipants included a diverse sample of men and women from two universities (N = 1981). Exploratory factory analysis (EFA) was conducted to examine the factor structure of the EDE-Q, followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to verify the factor structure, and establish the configural model. Furthermore, we explored the measurement invariance of the configural model by gender (i.e., men, women) and race/ethnicity (i.e., White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, and multiracial). ResultsEFA and CFA results suggested a three-factor, 10-item measure best fit the data, reflecting Dietary Restraint, Preoccupation and Eating Concern, and Shape/Weight Overvaluation. This measure achieved strict invariance by gender and race/ethnicity, indicating that mean comparisons across groups are meaningful. Women, relative to men, reported higher scores for all subscales. Significant differences across race/ethnicity emerged for Dietary Restraint and Shape/Weight Overvaluation in which Hispanic individuals endorsed the highest means compared to other racial/ethnic groups. DiscussionThe three-factor, 10-item measure is a brief, valid, and reliable measure of eating disorder psychopathology for U.S. college students.