Date of Award

1-1-2017

Language

English

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

College/School/Department

Department of Psychology

Program

Clinical Psychology

Content Description

1 online resource (ii, 34 pages) : illustrations.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Julia M Hormes

Committee Members

James F Boswell

Keywords

assessment, confirmatory factor analysis, Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire, eating disorders, vegan, Vegans, Omnivores, Eating disorders

Subject Categories

Psychology

Abstract

The Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) has been shown to be a valid and reliable measure of eating-related pathology; however, the original four-factor structure has proven difficult to replicate in diverse samples of respondents. Based on the differences in dietary patterns in vegans that are often interpreted as indicative as greater eating disorder symptoms, proper measurement of eating disorder measures is especially important. The purpose of this study was to compare goodness-of-fit of five alternative models of the EDE-Q in a sample of vegans recruited from the community (i.e., individuals refraining from all animal products, n = 395) and undergraduate omnivores (i.e., individuals not restricting intake of animal products, n = 207) who completed the measure, along with additional self-report measures. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to compare fit indices of the original four-factor model of the EDE-Q, along with alternative three-, two-, full one-, and brief one-factor models. No models provided adequate fit of the data in either sample of respondents. The brief one-factor model was the closest to being acceptable in omnivores, but did not perform as well in vegans. Indicators of fit were comparable in vegans and omnivores across all other models. Our data thus confirm difficulties in replicating the proposed factor structure of the EDE-Q, including in vegan respondents. More research is therefore needed to determine the suitability of the EDE-Q for quantifying eating behaviors, including in those abstaining

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