Predicting drive for thinness and bulimic symptoms in female adults: might an act-frequency approach to the measurement of eating attitudes be useful?

The present study drew on the act-frequency approach to study eating disturbances by modifying the items of the Eating Expectancy Inventory (EEI) and Thinness and Restricting Expectancy Inventory (TREI) to their frequency versions, namely, EEI-F and TREI-F. In Study 1, a total of 354 young females completed the EEI-F and TREI-F for factor analysis. In Study 2, to assess for construct validity and predictive utility, an independent sample of 241 young females completed a test battery including the EEI-F, TREI-F, and measures of eating disturbances. In Study 1, results from an exploratory factor analysis indicated a one-factor solution for both EEI-F and TREI-F that account for 65.65% and 72.97% of the common variance, respectively. In Study 2, both measures were found to possess good test-retest reliability (11-week) in a subset sample of participants from Study 1. Moreover, in support for construct validity, we found both EEI-F and TREI-F scores were positively associated with scores on measures of eating disturbances (i.e., drive for thinness, bulimic symptoms). Finally, in support of utility, frequency of eating and thinness expectancies predicted eating disturbances above and beyond general attitudes associated with eating and thinness expectancies (measured by the EEI and TREI). Overall, the present findings provide promising evidence for the validity, reliability, and utility of the EEI-F and TREI-F as reliable, valid, and useful measures of frequency of eating and thinness expectancies in young females. Implications for the theory and clinical assessments were discussed.