Spanish validation of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire for Adolescents (EDE-Q-A): confirmatory factor analyses among a clinical sample

ABSTRACT

Most studies of eating disorders (ED) among adolescents have relied on the use of self-report questionnaires given its cost-effectiveness compared to interviews approaches. The Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) is one of the most commonly used self-report measures of eating psychopathology, despite issues regarding the underlying latent structure and its validity in this population. Given the lack of validated measures among Hispanic clinical samples, the current study aimed to validate previously suggested models for the adolescent version (EDE-Q-A) among female teenage patients with ED in Spain (M_age = 15.45, SD = 1.59). Results failed to replicate the theoretical 4-factor structure, and a 2-factor model previously validated in a Hispanic-American community sample showed best fit over a 3-factor and a single-factor model. Excellent levels of internal consistency were observed for the two dimensions of the retained model and for the Global Score of the EDE-Q-A. Significant correlations with well-established measures of ED (Eating Disorders Inventory; EDI-2) and self-esteem are presented as evidence for convergent and concurrent validity. Sensitivity analyses showed a similar pattern of association between the retained model of the EDE-Q-A and the EDI-2. Current findings may contribute to development of evidence-based knowledge on ED among Hispanic clinical populations.

Acknowledgments

We express our gratitude to the participants of this study and to their parents/legal guardians. Especially we would like to thank Yolanda de Pellegrin for her involvement with the preliminary analyses. Dr. Sepulveda has a postdoctoral Ramon and Cajal scholarship from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC-2009-05092). Dr. Graell is a member of the Spanish Psychiatric Research Network (CIBERSAM).