Factor analytic support for the EDE-Q7 among American Indian/Alaska Native undergraduate women.

OBJECTIVE: American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) people have historically been excluded from eating disorder research. Consequently, not much is known about the validity of eating disorder assessment measures in this group. The purpose of the current study was to examine the factor structure of a short measure for eating pathology, the seven-item Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q7), in AI/AN undergraduate women. Exploratory analyses examined the measurement invariance of the EDE-Q7 across AI/AN, White, and Latinx undergraduates. METHODS: A sample of 150 AI/AN undergraduate women completed the full EDE-Q (28 items) as part of two larger studies. The seven items comprising the EDE-Q7 were selected from the full measure to test the factor structure. Random samples of White and Latinx women of equal sample size were chosen from the larger studies to test measurement invariance. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analyses found support for the EDE-Q7 factor structure in AI/AN undergraduate women, and scores were strongly positively correlated with the original EDE-Q global scale and disordered eating behaviors. Exploratory analyses found support for the measurement invariance of the EDE-Q7 across AI/AN, White, and Latinx women. One-way ANOVAs showed no significant racial and ethnic differences on the EDE-Q7. DISCUSSION: The current study found psychometric support for the EDE-Q7 in AI/AN undergraduate women and provided preliminary evidence that the EDE-Q7 can be meaningfully compared across AI/AN, White, and Latinx undergraduate women. Further research should continue to investigate the EDE-Q7 and other eating disorder measures in AI/AN and other historically excluded groups. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

Evaluation of the relationships between dietary restraint, emotional eating, and intuitive eating moderated by sex.

Intuitive eating involves attention to feelings putatively related to hunger and satiety to guide eating choices. This adaptive eating style has been linked to a number of positive physical and psychological outcomes. Interestingly, women tend to report lower levels of intuitive eating compared to men. It has been hypothesized that sociocultural pressures or dieting could be contributing factors to this sex discrepancy. The current study aimed to explore whether sex moderates the relationship between either dietary restraint and intuitive eating, or between emotional eating and intuitive eating. Assessments were administered to a sample of college males and females (N = 478) as part of a larger study of eating behaviors. Moderation analyses indicated that higher dietary restraint was more strongly associated with lower levels of intuitive eating in women than in men. Emotional eating also had a stronger negative association with intuitive eating in women compared to men. Additionally, relationships between dietary restraint/emotional eating and a component of intuitive eating, "eating for physical rather than emotional reasons", was stronger for women compared to men. These findings suggest that dietary restraint and emotional eating may serve as barriers in the implementation of an intuitive eating style, especially for women. Prevention and intervention efforts should target those high in dietary restraint and emotional eating.

Examining the individual and relational impacts of varying responses to negative body talk within college women's female friendships.

Many college women make self-disparaging comments about their appearance to others. This "fat talk" (negative body talk) is a causal risk factor for body image disturbance, which in turn predicts eating disorders and depression. Research is needed to identify effective responses to negative body talk; namely, those that reduce negative body talk without shaming its initiator or damaging the relationship. The current study examined the impact of different responses to negative body talk on the likelihood of future negative body talk and on individual and relationship factors. College women (N = 160) recalled a situation using negative body talk with a female friend. Participants listened to audio recordings of four responses (Deny/Reassure, Challenge, Empathize/Reciprocate, Ignore) and rated appearance satisfaction, shame, friendship support, and likelihood of future negative body talk after each. Linear mixed models indicated that the Deny/Reassure response followed closely by the Challenge response were most beneficial for individual and relationship factors; however, participants reported being least likely to use future negative body talk after the Ignore response. Recommendations for developing promising responses to negative body talk include combining responses to balance validation (Deny/Reassure) and change (Challenge), and studying the contribution of other relationships and varying body dissatisfaction levels.

Development and psychometric evaluation of an empirically-derived daily checklist of weight control: Consumption-reduction strategies and health-focused strategies in college students.

Objective: Many college women report engaging in weight control strategies, yet little is known about which strategies are used and how often. The current study's goal was to evaluate the factor structure of a comprehensive list of weight control behaviors used in the previous 24-hours. Participants: Undergraduate women (N = 286) were recruited from a southwestern university. Methods: Participants reported their weight control strategies for the previous 24 hours on a checklist compiled from previous studies. Results: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a 14-item, 2-factor ("Consumption-reduction", "Health-focused" Strategies) structure was a good fit of the data. Tests of longitudinal measurement invariance found support for using the checklist to make meaningful comparisons across time. Conclusions: This study developed a checklist of past 24-hour weight-control strategy usage, thereby providing a step toward developing an instrument that may be used for weight control or early intervention for disordered eating.

The Bulimia Test-Revised (BULIT-R): Psychometric properties in a non-clinical sample of White and Latina college women.

The Bulimia Test-Revised (BULIT-R) is a measure of bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder symptoms. While this measure can serve as a useful screening tool, the validity of the BULIT-R in White and Latina samples is uncertain. Previous research has proposed several different BULIT-R factor structures, but has yet to find consistent support for a measurement model or to test measurement invariance. To address this gap, the current study attempted to examine the factor structure and measurement invariance of the BULIT-R among 699 non-clinical White (40.9%) and Latina (59.1%) undergraduate women. Analyses indicated that none of the previously published factor structures in adult samples of the BULIT-R were an acceptable fit in either Latina or White undergraduates. These findings further underscore difficulties in replicating the BULIT-R factor structure, even when using similar sample characteristics to those in the literature. Given the lack of an adequate fitting measurement model, tests of measurement invariance were not conducted. In the absence of measurement invariance of the BULIT-R, there is uncertainty regarding group comparisons, such as whether group differences reflect true differences or are artifacts of measurement error. This study highlights the need for additional psychometric investigation of the BULIT-R. The focus should be on diverse groups as well as non-clinical samples, with the latter being less likely to endorse extreme eating behaviors. Special consideration should be given to the number of items included in the measurement model and the number of indicators per latent factor. Caution should be exercised when interpreting scores on this instrument.