Eating disorder examination questionnaire: factor structure for adolescent girls and boys

Abstract

Objective: To examine the factor structure of the EDE-Q among a sample of adolescents.

Method: A community-based sample of 917 adolescents (522 girls and 395 boys) aged 14-18 years completed the EDE-Q version 6.0 as part of a larger study. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two subsamples to enable separate analyses.

Results: A confirmatory factor analysis on the original four factor model of the EDE-Q produced an inadmissible model with a poor fit. Exploratory factor analysis using principal axis factoring produced an alternative three factor model of the EDE-Q among adolescents. The Shape and Weight Concerns, Restriction and Preoccupation and Eating Concern subscales accounted for 65% of the total variance. Subscale and global scores were significantly higher for girls than for boys. A high proportion of both girls (53.6%) and boys (30.5%) reported participating in at least one key eating disordered behaviour during the previous 28 days.

Discussion: The results of this study present three new subscales (Shape and Weight Concerns, Restriction and Preoccupation and Eating Concern) which are suggested for use in future research which uses the EDE-Q with community samples of adolescents.

Keywords: EDE-Q; adolescent; factor structure; preoccupation and eating concern; restriction; shape and weight concerns.