A comparison of three questionnaires (EAT-12, EDI,and EDE-Q) for assessment of eating problems in healthy female adolescents

On the basis of the restraint theory and the continuum hypothesis of eating disorders, the objective of this paper was twofold. First, subjects who, on the basis of items from the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) which are generated from DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria, fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) were identified. Second, differences in scale scores between a case group and a non-case group were tested, and case group distribution of the two self-report questionnaires Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-12) and Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) was compared as a means for investigating the sensitivity of the instruments in detecting eating disorder cases. In a classroom setting 224 8th-grade female students from 5 schools in western Norway completed the questionnaires. The responses to the questionnaires were analysed by case group and instrument/subscales by using the t test, Cohen's d-values, eta squared statistic, point biserial correlation, and two-way ANOVA. No BN cases and 10 AN cases were identified. AN cases scored significantly higher on all measures of eating problems than normal subjects and differed most from non-cases on the "dieting" dimension. Clinical implications are discussed in the light of screening.