title: A psychometric examination of a modified eight-item version of the children's eating disorder examination.
abstract: Eating and body image disturbances in children are typically assessed using the Children's Eating Disorder Examination (ChEDE); however, support for the reliability and validity of scores on this measure is mixed. Furthermore, previous studies suggest that scores obtained from a simplified 8-item version of the ChEDE may be more reliable and useful for research purposes than scores obtained from the full scale. The present study sought to psychometrically evaluate the reliability and factor structure of this brief 8-item scale. Two separate community-based samples of 6- to 11-year-olds (N = 535) were administered the ChEDE as part of a broader assessment battery. The brief 8-item model provided a good fit to the data, as determined by confirmatory factor analysis. Additionally, scores obtained from the 8-item scale, as well as a global ChEDE score, provided reliable measures of a child's eating disorder symptoms, and were superior to the original 4 subscales in both healthy-weight and overweight/obese samples. The brief 8-item scale may therefore be used by researchers who want a reliable and valid index of global eating disorder psychopathology without doing a full interview.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology.
authors.forename: Michelle I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Jongenelis
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology.
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Byrne
authors.affiliation: Health Promotion Evaluation Unit.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pettigrew
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology.
authors.forename: Karina L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research.
authors.forename: Felicity
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Watt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D019959:Feeding and Eating Disorders of Childhood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014904:Western Australia