An Item Response Theory Analysis of the SCOFF Questionnaire in a High School Population

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Eating disorders continue to be of concern to health and social services staff in schools and other child-serving settings. There is a substantive need for scales that can help to measure both the extent to which eating disorders exist in a youth population and to measure risk for specific students.Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of one such instrument - the SCOFF Questionnaire - in a high school population using Item Response Theory methods.Methods: The data used in this study were collected from 3,356 high school students in seven Ohio high schools.Results: Results suggested the SCOFF items varied in their relationship with eating disorder risk and, further, operated differently for male and female students.Conclusions: Recommendations for using the SCOFF Questionnaire in school and other applied settings are presented, including cautions about using the recommended scoring procedures.

KEYWORDS:

• SCOFF Questionnaire
• measurement
• psychometrics
• item response theory
• eating disorder risk