Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Apr;56(4):708-720.
doi: 10.1002/eat.23702. Epub 2022 Mar 12.

Validation and measurement invariance of the Muscularity-Oriented Eating Test among Brazilian men and women

Pedro Henrique Berbert de Carvalho  1   2 , Vitoria Bagolin  3 , Alessandra Costa Pereira Junqueira  3 , Jason M Nagata  4 , Chloe J Cattle  4 , Stuart B Murray  5 , Emilio J Compte  6   7 , Telma Maria Braga Costa  3   8 , Sebastião Sousa Almeida  8 , Maria Fernanda Laus  3   8
Affiliations

Validation and measurement invariance of the Muscularity-Oriented Eating Test among Brazilian men and women

Pedro Henrique Berbert de Carvalho et al. Int J Eat Disord. 2023 Apr.

Abstract

Objective: The Muscularity-Oriented Eating Test (MOET) is a 15-item unidimensional scale, designed to assess eating practices that occur in the pursuit of a muscular body. The aim of the present study was to describe the translation and cultural adaptation of the MOET to Brazilian Portuguese, to explore its factor structure and measurement invariance, and to evaluate its internal consistency, three-week test-retest reliability, and convergent validity in a community sample of Brazilian men and women.

Method: After the back-translation procedure, the Brazilian MOET was administered online to a sample of 1246 adults (634 men and 612 women), along with measures of drive for muscularity, muscle dysmorphia symptoms, muscular/athletic-ideal internalization, disordered eating behaviors, and exercise dependence.

Results: Findings from an exploratory factor analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis revealed a one-factor structure and adequate internal consistency for men (ω = 0.86; α = 0.86) and women (ω = .84; α = .83). Measurement invariance across gender was supported. In addition, the scale demonstrated good three week test-retest reliability for both men (ICC = .96; p < .001) and women (ICC = .92; p < .001), and the subscales revealed moderate to large associations with drive for muscularity, muscle dysmorphia symptoms, muscular/athletic-ideal internalization, disordered eating, and exercise dependence.

Conclusion: This study supports the validity and reliability of the MOET in a community sample of Brazilian men and women and represents an advance in measures of muscularity-oriented disordered eating in Brazilian adults, allowing for future cross-cultural studies in this field.

Public significance: The Muscularity-Oriented Eating Test (MOET) is a measure of muscularity-oriented disordered eating, which assess strict adherence to diet rules, including the food's macronutrient content, regulation of protein intake, and eating less or more to influence muscle gain. This study evaluated the validity and reliability of the MOET in a community sample of Brazilian men and women. Our findings represent an advance in measures of muscularity-oriented disordered eating in Brazilian adults.

Keywords: body image; disordered eating; drive for muscularity; muscularity oriented disordered eating; psychometric.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

REFERENCES

    1. Alchieri, J. C., Gouveia, V. V., Oliveira, I. C. V., Medeiros, E. D., Grangeiro, A. S. M., & Silva, C. F. L. S. (2015). Exercise Dependence Scale: Adaptação e evidências de validade e precisão [Exercise Dependence Scale: Adaptation and evidences of validity and reliability]. Jornal Brasileiro de Psiquiatria, 64, 280-287. https://doi.org/10.1590/0047-2085000000090
    1. Alvarenga, M. S., de Carvalho, P. H. B., Philippi, S. T., & Scagliusi, F. B. (2013). Propriedades psicométricas da Escala de Atitudes Alimentares Transtornadas para adultos do sexo masculino [Psychometric properties of the Disordered Eating Attitude Scale for adult men]. Jornal Brasileiro de Psiquiatria, 62(4), 253-260. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0047-20852013000400002
    1. Alvarenga, M. S., Scagliusi, F. B., & Philippi, S. T. (2010). Development and validity of the disordered eating attitude scale (DEAS). Perceptual and Motor Skills, 110(2), 379-395. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.110.2.379-395
    1. Ambwani, S., Shippe, M., Gao, Z., & Austin, S. B. (2019). Is #cleaneating a healthy or harmful dietary strategy? Perceptions of clean eating and associations with disordered eating among young adults. Journal of Eating Disorders, 7(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-019-0246-2
    1. American Psychiatric Association [APA]. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5®). American psychiatric pub.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources