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Children's eating attitudes test: Validation in a sample of Spanish schoolchildren
Author(s) -
RojoMoreno Luis,
GarcíaMiralles Isabel,
Plumed Javier,
Barberá María,
Morales María M.,
Ruiz Elías,
Livianos Lorenzo
Publication year - 2011
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.20855
Subject(s) - eating attitudes test , dieting , cronbach's alpha , psychology , test (biology) , clinical psychology , psychometrics , eating disorders , medicine , obesity , paleontology , weight loss , biology
Abstract Objective: To validate the Spanish version of the Children's Eating Attitudes Test (ChEAT). Method: The factor structure and other psychometric characteristics of the questionnaire were examined using the answers of 38,554 schoolchildren. Diagnostic efficiency was based on a standardized clinical interview of 968 schoolchildren who had previously completed the questionnaire. Results: Five factors (“preoccupation with thinness,” “dieting,” “social pressure to eat,” “purging,” and “preoccupation with food and oral control”) explained 46% of the variance. Cronbach's α was .858 for the total scale. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was .851. Sensitivity (SE) was 27% and specificity (SP) 96% for a cut‐off of 20. A more appropriate cut‐off was 15, where SE and SP were 62% and 90% respectively, and the positive and negative predictive values 27 and 98%. Discussion: The ChEAT psychometric characteristics are adequate. The questionnaire is valid. A cut‐off point of 15 is recommended for adolescents. © 2010 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2011)