An evaluation of the reliability and construct validity of eating disorder measures in white and black women.

Abstract

Most measures of eating disorder symptoms and risk factors were developed in predominantly White female samples. Yet eating disorders affect individuals of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Black women appear more vulnerable to certain forms of eating pathology, such as binge eating, and less susceptible to other eating disorder symptoms and risk factors, such as body dissatisfaction, compared with their White peers. Despite concern that extant measures do not adequately assess eating concerns among Black women, the construct validity of scores on most of these measures has not been adequately examined within this population. This study included 2,208 Black and White women who completed the following: the Binge Eating Scale (BES), the Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale (EDDS), the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26), the Eating Disorder Inventory Body Dissatisfaction and Drive for Thinness subscales, the Bulimia Test-Revised (BULIT-R), the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire-Appearance Evaluation subscale (MBSRQ-AE), and the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (OBCS). Most measures yielded internally consistent scores in both races. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that loadings for some measures, including the EAT-26 and EDDS, were not invariant across groups and thus do not assess equivalent constructs in White and Black women. However, others, including the BULIT-R, BES, OBCS, and MBSRQ-AE, exhibited factorial invariance in both races. Results suggest scores are likely not equivalent across races for several popular measures of eating disorder symptoms and risk factors. Thus, it is recommended that researchers and clinicians obtain additional information regarding racial/cultural factors when using these instruments with Black women.

Testing the measurement invariance of the eating disorder inventory in nonclinical samples of Hispanic and Caucasian women

“…Our findings also speak to the broader difficulty often encountered when attempting to measure disordered eating in different ethnic groups. Previous research found similar patterns of noninvariance when comparing eating disorder measures across Caucasian and African‐American groups . One study that investigated the factor structure of the Eating Attitudes Test‐26 (EAT‐26) in a Mexican‐American sample found that the factor structure differed from that found in Caucasian samples .…”

Measurement invariance of the Eating Disorder Examination in black and white children and adolescents

“…Measurement invariance holds when there is no systematic error biased against a certain group (Kline, ); that is, if black and white youth have identical levels of eating pathology, they are equally likely to endorse related items regardless of group membership. Notably, other measures of eating pathology have been found to lack invariance for black and white adults (Kelly et al, ), but to our knowledge there are no data on measures for pediatric samples. Given that eating disturbance typically develops adolescence, but can also manifest during middle childhood (Swanson et al, ), elucidating the measurement invariance of the EDE across races is important in order to reliably and validly identify those with eating pathology.…”

The Impact of Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities on Binge Eating and Self-Efficacy among Adults in a Behavioral Weight Loss Trial

“…In addition, this study used self-report measures to assess binge eating and eating self-efficacy; the use of these measures may increase the risk of recall bias, social desirability bias, and errors in selfobservation. Strengths of the study include the use of well-established questionnaires that have been validated among nonwhite samples Kelly et al, 2012).…”