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Eating disturbances in a school population of preteen girls: Assessment and screening
Author(s) -
Colton Patricia A.,
Olmsted Marion P.,
Rodin Gary M.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/eat.20386
Subject(s) - psychology , population , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , medicine , environmental health
Objective: To assess the utility of the Children's Eating Attitudes Test (cEAT) questionnaire in screening for interview‐ascertained eating disturbances. Method: A total of 409 girls, 9–13 years of age, completed a cEDE interview and cEAT questionnaire. Results: 14.7% of girls reported eating disturbances in the past month on the cEDE. Mean cEDE score was 0.3 ± 0.6 and mean cEAT score was 5.9 ± 5.9. The cEAT demonstrated low sensitivity but high specificity at a cutoff score of 20, and poor positive predictive value when lower cutoff scores were used. Conclusion: Eating disturbances were common but mild in this preteen group. The cEAT was not an efficient screening tool for interview‐ascertained mild eating disturbances in preteen girls. © 2007 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 2007