Background
Feelings of fat are common for people with eating disorders, but ways of measuring its intensity are needed. Therefore, our goal was to develop a self-report feelings of fat scale that asked participants to indicate how intensely they currently felt statements such as “I feel fat”. With such a scale we can determine how strongly feelings of fat relate to evidence of disordered eating.
Methods
We conducted three studies of eating disorders with undergraduate women taking introductory psychology classes. The combined sample was 472 participants. A previous eating disorder diagnosis was self-reported by 33 participants and a current diagnosis by 11. All participants completed the EDE-Q and the seven (Study 1) or nine item (Studies 2 and 3) “State Feelings of Fat” (SFF) scales we developed. Each item asked them to rate the intensity with which they felt statements such “I feel fat” on a seven-point scale from “not at all” to “the most I have ever felt”.
Results
Both the seven and nine item SFF scales were highly coherent (Cronbach’s α were .94, .95 and .94), but factor analysis supported the seven-item version. We found high correlations between SFF and EDE-Q scores (Study 1: .816; Study 2: .808; Study 3: .841). SFF scores distinguished participants self-reporting no eating disorder diagnosis from those with a former diagnosis, t (361) = 2.33, p = .021, who in turn were distinguished from those with a current diagnosis, t (42) = 2.09, p = .043. Due to the high coherence of the scale, the single item “I feel fat” captured most of the variance in EDE-Q scores (r [472] = .793).
Conclusions
We have constructed an eating disorders relevant feelings of fat scale. Given that the EDE-Q is considered a valid questionnaire for measuring severity of eating disorders, our findings suggests that feelings of fat are core to the psychopathology of eating disorders. To the extent that EDE-Q scores are stable it also suggests that feelings of fat are surprisingly stable. Furthermore, the single item “I feel fat” alone may capture most of what the EDE-Q measures.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.