Beliefs about Binge Eating: Psychometric Properties of the Eating Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ-18) in Eating Disorder, Obese, and Community Samples

Amy L Burton¹, Deborah Mitchison^{2

3}, Phillipa Hay⁴, Brooke Donnelly^{5

6}, Christopher Thornton⁷, Janice Russell^{8

9}, Jessica Swinbourne¹⁰, Christopher Basten¹¹, Mandy Goldstein¹², Stephen Touyz¹³, Maree J Abbott¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. amy.burton@sydney.edu.au.
² Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia. deborah.mitchison@mq.edu.au.
³ School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, NSW 2560, Australia. deborah.mitchison@mq.edu.au.
⁴ School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, NSW 2560, Australia. p.hay@westernsydney.edu.au.
⁵ School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. brooke.donnelly@health.nsw.gov.au.
⁶ The Peter Beumont Eating Disorder Service, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. brooke.donnelly@health.nsw.gov.au.
⁷ The Redleaf Practice, Wahroonga, NSW 2076, Australia. chris.thornton@theredleafpractice.com.
⁸ School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. janice.russell@sydney.edu.au.
⁹ The Peter Beumont Eating Disorder Service, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. janice.russell@sydney.edu.au.
¹⁰ School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. drjessicaswinbourne@gmail.com.
¹¹ Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia. chrisb@bastenpsychology.com.au.
¹² Mandy Goldstein Psychology, Bondi Junction, NSW 2022, Australia. mandy.goldstein@mgpsych.com.
¹³ School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. stephen.touyz@sydney.edu.au.
¹⁴ School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. maree.abbott@sydney.edu.au.

PMID: 30223500
PMCID: PMC6165353
DOI: 10.3390/nu10091306

Comparative Study

Beliefs about Binge Eating: Psychometric Properties of the Eating Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ-18) in Eating Disorder, Obese, and Community Samples

Amy L Burton et al. Nutrients. 2018.

. 2018 Sep 14;10(9):1306.

doi: 10.3390/nu10091306.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. amy.burton@sydney.edu.au.
² Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia. deborah.mitchison@mq.edu.au.
³ School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, NSW 2560, Australia. deborah.mitchison@mq.edu.au.
⁴ School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown, NSW 2560, Australia. p.hay@westernsydney.edu.au.
⁵ School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. brooke.donnelly@health.nsw.gov.au.
⁶ The Peter Beumont Eating Disorder Service, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. brooke.donnelly@health.nsw.gov.au.
⁷ The Redleaf Practice, Wahroonga, NSW 2076, Australia. chris.thornton@theredleafpractice.com.
⁸ School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. janice.russell@sydney.edu.au.
⁹ The Peter Beumont Eating Disorder Service, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. janice.russell@sydney.edu.au.
¹⁰ School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. drjessicaswinbourne@gmail.com.
¹¹ Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia. chrisb@bastenpsychology.com.au.
¹² Mandy Goldstein Psychology, Bondi Junction, NSW 2022, Australia. mandy.goldstein@mgpsych.com.
¹³ School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. stephen.touyz@sydney.edu.au.
¹⁴ School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. maree.abbott@sydney.edu.au.

PMID: 30223500
PMCID: PMC6165353
DOI: 10.3390/nu10091306

Abstract

Binge eating is a core diagnostic feature of bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, anorexia nervosa binge/purge type, and is a common feature of "other specified" and "unspecified" feeding and eating disorders. It has been suggested that specific metacognitive beliefs about food, eating, and binge eating may play a key role in the maintenance of binge eating behaviour. The Eating Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ-18) provides a brief self-report assessment tool measuring three types of metacognitive beliefs: negative, positive, and permissive beliefs about food and eating. This study aimed to build on past research by validating the factor structure and psychometric properties of the EBQ-18 using both a clinical and non-clinical sample. A sample of 688 participants (n = 498 non-clinical participants, n = 161 participants seeking treatment for an eating disorder, and n = 29 participants seeking treatment for obesity) completed a battery of questionnaires, including the EBQ-18 and other measures of eating disorder symptoms and relevant constructs. A subset of 100 non-clinical participants completed the test battery again after an interval of two-weeks, and 38 clinical participants completed the EBQ-18 before and after receiving psychological treatment for their eating disorder. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted and psychometric properties of this measure were assessed. The results of this study provide support for the three-factor model of the EBQ-18. In addition, the EBQ-18 was found to be a valid and reliable measure, with excellent internal consistency, good test-retest reliability in the non-clinical sample, and also demonstrated evidence of sensitivity to treatment in clinical samples with binge eating pathology. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were used to identify optimal cut-off scores for the EBQ-18. This study provides valuable information about the utility of the EBQ-18 as a measure for use in both clinical and research settings.

Keywords: binge eating; eating disorders; obesity; psychometric; questionnaire.

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Conflict of interest statement

Author P.H. receives royalties from Hogrefe and Huber, McGraw-Hill, PLOS Medicine and BioMedCentral publishers. Author S.T. has received honoraria, travel grants, research grant funding and consultancy fees from Shire, is a consultant to Weight Watchers, has also received honoraria from Hogrefe and Huber, McGraw-Hill and Taylor and Francis for publication of book chapters. All other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

References

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Beliefs about Binge Eating: Psychometric Properties of the Eating Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ-18) in Eating Disorder, Obese, and Community Samples

Affiliations

Beliefs about Binge Eating: Psychometric Properties of the Eating Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ-18) in Eating Disorder, Obese, and Community Samples

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

References

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MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

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Medical

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