Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Psychometric properties of the eating attitudes test and children’s eating attitudes test in Croatia

  • Instruments
  • Published:
Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The factor structure of the children’s version of the Eating Attitudes Test (ChEAT) and Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) were examined in Croatian girls of different ages. A self-report survey was given to 225 girls (Grades 5 to 8), 525 high school girls (Grades 9 to 12), and 646 female university students. Factor analysis revealed the existence of four factors for ChEAT, and three interpretable factors for EAT-26. Internal consistency of both instruments was satisfactory. 10.3% of school girls scored 20 or higher on ChEAT, when 7.6% of high school girls and 11.3% of university students had elevated EAT-26 scores. The ChEAT and EAT-26 were useful for screening large non-clinical groups and measuring disturbed eating behaviours. Those with elevated ChEAT and EAT-26 scores were more likely than those with lower scores to be engaged in extreme weight control methods (e.g. vomiting, binging).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Garner D.M., Garfinkel P.E.: The Eating Attitudes Test: An index of the symptoms of anorexia nervosa. Psychol. Med., 9, 273–279, 1979.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Williamson D.A., Prather R.C., McKenzie S.J., Blouin D.C.: Behavioral assessment procedures can differentiate bulimia nervosa, compulsive overeater, obese, and normal subjects. Behav. Assess., 12, 239–252, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Steinhausen H.C.: Transcultural comparison of eating attitudes in young females and anorectic patients. Eur. Arch. Psychol. Neurol. Sci., 234, 198–201, 1984.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Martin C., Bellisle F.: Eating attitudes and taste responses in young ballerinas. Physiol. Behav., 46, 223–227, 1989.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Scheinberg Z., Bleich A., Koslovsky M., Apter A., Mark M., Kotler B.M., Danon Y.L.: Prevalence of eating disorders among female Israel defence force recruits. Herafuah, 123, 73–78, 1992.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Nasser M.: Screening for abnormal eating attitudes in a population of Egyptian secondary school girls. Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr. Epidemiol., 29, 25–30, 1994.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Lee A.M., Lee S.: Disordered eating and its psychosocial correlates among Chinese adolescent females in Hong Kong. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 20, 177–183, 1996.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Buddeberg-Fischer B., Bernet R., Sieber M., Schmid J., Buddeberg C.: Epidemiology of eating behaviour and weight distribution in 14- to 19-year-old Swiss students. Acta Psychiatr. Scand., 93, 296–304, 1996.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Alsubaie A., Alshammari S., Bamgboye E., Alsabhan K., Alshehri S., Bannah A.R.: Validity of the Arabic version of the Eating Attitude Test. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 20, 321–324, 1996.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Boyadijeva S., Steinhausen H.C.: The Eating Attitudes Test and the Eating Inventory in four Bulgarian clinical and nonclinical samples. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 19, 93–98, 1996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Behar R.: Eating disorders in adolescents: clinical and epidemiological aspects. Rev. Med. de Chile, 126, 1085–1092, 1998.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Perez-Gaspar M., Gual P., de Irala-Estevez J., Martinez-Gonzalez M.A., Lahortiga F., Cervera S.: Prevalence of eating disorders in a representative sample of female adolescents from Navarra. Med. Clin., 114, 481–486, 2000.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Jones J.M., Bennett S., Olmsted M.P., Lawson M.L., Rodin G.: Disordered eating attitudes and behaviours in teen-aged girls: a school-based study. Can. Med. Assoc. J., 165, 547–552, 2001.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Nehra R., Mohanty M., Sharan P., Gupta N., Khurana P.: Assessment of psychometric properties of Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) in a targeted population. Indian J. Clin. Psychol., 28, 241–245, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Caradas A.A., Lambert E.V., Charlton K.E.: An ethnic comparison of eating attitudes and associated body image concerns in adolescent South Africa schoolgirls. J. Hum. Nutr. Diet., 14, 111–120, 2001.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Himura M., Horie H., Kumano H., Sakano Y., Suematsu H.: Reliability and validity of a Japanese version of the Eating Disorder Inventory. Psychol. Rep., 92, 131–140, 2003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Maloney M., McGuire J., Daniels S.: Reliability testing of a children’s version of the Eating Attitudes Test. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatr., 5, 541–543, 1988.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Kelly C., Ricciardelli L.A., Clarke J.D.: Problem eating attitudes and behaviors in young children. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 25, 281–286, 1999.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Marković J., Votavaraić A., Nikolić S.: Study of eating attitudes and body image perception in the preadolescent age. Coll. Antropol., 22, 221–232, 1998.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Pokrajac-Bulian A., Ambrosi-Randić N., Mustapić J.: Spolna orijentacija, nezadovoljstvo tijelom i navike hranjenja u osnovnoškolskoj dobi. (Gender role, body dissatisfaction and eating habits in elementary school). Medicina (Medicine), 38, 85–86, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Rukavina T.: Internalizacija ideala tjelesnoga izgleda, nezadovoljstvo tijelom i simptomi poremećaja hranjenja kod adolescenata. (Internalization of thin ideal, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptoms in adolescents). Degree thesis. Rijeka, Faculty of Philosophy, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Pokrajac-Bulian A., Stubbs L., Ambrosi-Randić N.: Različiti aspekti slike tijela i navike hranjenja u adolescenciji. (Different aspects of body image and eating habits in adolescence). Psihologijske teme (Psychological themes), 13, 91–104, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Garfinkel P.E., Garner D.M.: Anorexia nervosa: A multidimensional perspective. New York, Brunner- Mazel, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Patton G.C., Carlin J.B., Shao Q., Hibbert M.E., Rosier M., Selzer R., Bowes G.: Adolescent dieting: Healthy weight control or borderline eating disorder? J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry, 3, 299–306, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Pokrajac-Bulian A.: Nezadovoljstvo tijelom i bulimic?ni simptomi u studentskoj populaciji (Body dissastisfaction and bulimic symptoms in the student population). Druš. istr., 36–37, 581–601, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Cooper P.J., Taylor M.J., Cooper Z., Fairburn C.G.: The development and validation of the Body Shape Questionnaire. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 6, 485–494, 1987.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Smolak L., Levine M.P.: Psychometric properties of the Children’s Eating Attitude Test. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 16, 275–282, 1994.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Rogers R.L., Petrie T.A.: Personality correlates of anorexic symptomatology in female undergraduates. J. Couns. Dev., 75, 138–144, 1996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Rivas T., Bersabe R., Jimenez M.: The Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26): Psychometric Properties in a sample of Spanish adolescents. Paper presented at VIIth European Conference on Psychological Assessment, Malaga (Spain), Proceedings, EAPA 2004, pp. 198.

    Google Scholar 

  30. McVey G., Tweed S., Blackmore E.: Dieting among preadolescent and young adolescent females. Can. Med. Assoc. J., 170, 1559–1561, 2004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Rosen J., Silberg N., Gross J.: Eating Attitude Test and Eating Disorders Inventory: Norms for adolescent girls and boys. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol., 56, 305–308, 1988.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Caradas A.A., Lambert E.V., Charlton K.E.: An ethnic comparison of eating attitudes and associated body image concerns in adolescent South African school girls. J. Hum. Nutr. Diet., 14, 111–120, 2001.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Smead V.S., Richert A.J.: Eating Attitudes Test factors in an unselected undergraduate population. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 9, 211–215, 1990.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Prouty A.M., Protinsky H.O., Canady D.: College women: eating behaviors and help-seeking preferences. Adolescence, 37, 353–363, 2002.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Cooper P.J., Goodyer I.: Prevalence and significance of weight and shape concerns in girls aged 11–16 years. Br. J. Psychiatry, 171, 542–544, 1997.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Mellin L., Irwin C., Scully S.: Prevalence of disordered eating in girls: A survey of middle-class children. J. Am. Diet. Assoc., 92, 851–853, 1992.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Fairburn C.G., Beglin S.J.: Assessment of eating disorders: Interview or self-report questionnaire? Int. J. Eat. Disord., 16, 363–370, 1994.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Philosophy, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia

    N. Ambrosi-Randić

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Rijeka, Trg Ivana Klobucarica 1, 51 000, Rijeka, Croatia

    Alessandra Pokrajac-Bulian

Authors
  1. N. Ambrosi-Randić
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alessandra Pokrajac-Bulian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alessandra Pokrajac-Bulian.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ambrosi-Randić, N., Pokrajac-Bulian, A. Psychometric properties of the eating attitudes test and children’s eating attitudes test in Croatia. Eat Weight Disord 10, e76–e82 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03327495

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03327495

Keywords

Search

Navigation