Emotional Eating Scale for Children and Adolescents: Psychometric Characteristics in a Spanish Sample

Abstract

The aims of this study were to validate the Emotional Eating Scale version for children (EES-C) in a Spanish population and study the differences in emotional eating among children with binge eating (BE), overeating (OE), and no episodes of disordered eating (NED). The questionnaire was completed by 199 children aged 9 to 16 years. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed five scales: eating in response to anger, anxiety, restlessness, helplessness, and depression. The EES-C showed good internal consistency and test–retest reliability, and it showed moderate relationships with measures of disordered-eating [Children's Eating Attitudes Test-26 (ChEAT-26), Questionnaire of Eating and Weight Patterns–Adolescent Version (QEWP-A)] and psychopathology (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, Children's Depression Inventory, Child Behavior Checklist). There were significant differences between the BE/NED groups (with the OE group in the middle position) in desire to eat when Anger (the girls in BE group, and the oldest children in OE group obtaining higher scores) or Helplessness were present. Eating due to Depression was higher in the older groups. Multiple regression analysis conducted showed that anxiety-trait was the best predictor of emotional eating. Results support the potential utility of the EES-C in the study of emotional eating in children and its validity in the Spanish population.

Acknowledgments

CIBER Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición is an initiative of ISCIII. We thank Dr. Marian Tanofsky-Kraff for granting us permission to adapt the Emotional Eating Scale for Children and Adolescents and Dr. Bruce Arnow for his kind response.

Notes

^a n = 71.

^b n = 44.

^c n = 84.

^d n = 199.

Note: CFI = comparative fit index; GFI = goodness-of-fit index; AGFI = adjusted GFI; SRMR = standardized root mean square residual; RMSEA = root mean square error of approximation.

**p < .001.

Note: EES-C = Emotional Eating Scale version for children; CDI = Child Depression Inventory; CBCL = Child Behavior Checklist; STAI-C = State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (only Trait); ChEAT = Child Eating Attitudes Test.

*p < .05. **p < .01.

Note: EES-C = Emotional Eating Scale version for children; OE = eating episode with overeating; BE = binge eating episode; NED = no episodes of disordered eating.

^a n = 102.

^b n = 92.

^c n = 87.

^d n = 108.

^e n = 77.

^f n = 77.

^g n = 39.

^h n = 26.

ⁱ n = 28.

^j n = 139.

Note: EES-C = Emotional Eating Scale version for children; STAI-C = State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children; ChEAT = Child Eating Attitudes Test; CBCL = Child Behavior Checklist; CDI = Child Depression Inventory.

*p < .05. **p < .01.