Abstract

MORA, Zaida Salazar. The Eating Attitude Test in Costa Rica: first evidences of its validity and reliability. Actual. psicol. [online]. 2012, vol.26, n.113, pp. 51-71. ISSN 0258-6444.

Purpose: The factorial structure and reliability of the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-40) were analyzed. The ability of the test to discriminate subjects with eating disorder (ED: anorexia and bulimia) diagnosis was also examined. Participants. Five hundred sixty nine women between 10 and 39 years old with and without diagnostic of eating disorder (n = 19, n = 533, respectively) completed the EAT-40. Procedures. In a first step, confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, followed by the calculation of the internal consistency of the subscales. Secondly, criterion validity was assessed by testing differences across groups with and without eating disorder diagnosis. Results. Psychometric analyses showed adequate factorial structure (three factors) and internal consistency (α = .889). Data also showed satisfactory discrimination properties of the measure at the cut points of 30 (sensibility 63.2%, specificity 85.8%) and 20 (sensibility 73.7%, specificity 71.8%), and showed that de EAT-40 significantly differentiates across groups with and without eating disorder diagnosis.

Keywords : Eating Attitudes Test; eating disorders; psychometrics; validity; reliability.

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