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

OBJECTIVE: The 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. METHOD: Participants 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). RESULTS: EFA 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. DISCUSSION: The three-factor, 10-item measure is a brief, valid, and reliable measure of eating disorder psychopathology for U.S. college students.

Sociocultural correlates of eating pathology in college women from US and Iran.

Objective: The buffering role of the hijab as a protective factor against eating pathology has been questioned in countries where wearing the hijab is compulsory, such as Iran; and, cross-cultural comparisons of body image in Iranian and Western women are sparse. Consequently, we examined sociocultural correlates of eating pathology in US and Iranian women. Method: College women from the US (n = 709) and Iran (n = 331) completed the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and the Sociocultural Attitude Toward to Appearance Questionnaire-4 (SATAQ-4). Prior to examining main hypotheses, we evaluated whether the scales perform similarly (i.e., establish measurement invariance) by culture. Results: The EDE-Q and SATAQ-4 were not invariant by culture indicating that the scales performed differently across groups, so separate analyses were conducted in each sample. Thin-ideal internalization and pressures for thinness were significant positive predictors of eating pathology in both US and Iranian women. Conclusion: Both pressures for thinness and thin-ideal internalization appear to be relevant to eating pathology in women from both cultures. However, there may be important cross-cultural differences in the interpretation or experience of these constructs. Further understanding of this measurement non-invariance and the ways in which Iranian women may be uniquely impacted by Western values of appearance is a critical next step.