Objective Eating disorders have been typically defined as an “adolescent problem.” As a result of emerging evidence which indicated this health problem to be evident in the prepubescent age range, this study aimed to establish prevalence and factors associated with eating/dieting, physical activity, and body image among a nonclinical, naturalistically‐derived sample of preadolescent (aged 10 and 11) school children (n = 61). Method: This cohort of children, which represented the entire grade 6 class of a suburban Elementary school, was measured for body image satisfaction [silhouettes], a participation in activity index, a self‐worth scale and a measure of eating attitudes & behavior [Eating and Me scale [E & M]]. Results: The longitudinal assessment of body image [3 measures over 9 months] indicated signs of stability of “actual” assessments of body image for males, but marked changes for females who preferred to be ideally “chunkier” in stature over time. Physical activity was only implicated with bulimia for the male sub‐group. The E & M scale reported a Cronbach's alpha of .76, with two factors [bulimia; drive for thinness/anorexia] representing 65% of the total variance. Moderate internal validity [r .58] between body dissatisfaction on the E & M scale and the silhouette measure was observed. Discussion: These results demonstrated that body image views and concerns appeared before puberty, that gender differences prevailed with respect to eating/dieting, activity and body image, and that the E & M scale has emerged as a promising research tool. The longitudinal nature of this study of eating disorders also promotes the need for qualitative research methodology and attention to pre‐pubertal cognitive/perceptual processes. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 21: 159–166, 1997.

Body dissatisfaction and eating disorders in the preadolescent population have increased over the past 10 years. The Eating and Me (E&M) scale of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating for use with prepubescent males and females (Sands, Tricker, Sherman, Armatas, & Maschette, 1997) was refined and used to investigate relationships among disordered eating, body dissatisfaction, and self-worth. The sample comprised 59 females and 57 males, with ages ranging between 10-12 years (M = 11 years). From the 18 item E&M-II, 6 items were removed to produce the 12-item E&M-III scale. Physical self-worth, current and ideal images, and Children’s Eating Attitude Test scores predicted high scores on the E&M-III. These results support the inclusion of body image assessment in screening for preclinical eating disturbances in nonclinical populations.