Validity evidence for eating attitudes test scores in a sample of female college athletes

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the 26-item Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26; Garner, Olmsted, Bohr, & Garfinkel, 1982) using a sample of 207 female college athletes. Previous studies using nonathlete populations have supported a number of factor structures, but a series of confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) produced poor fit and problematic parameter estimates in this sample. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) supported a five-factor model that consisted of Drive for Thinness, Food Preoccupation, Others' Perceptions, Purging Behavior, and Dieting Behavior factors. Internal consistency reliability coefficients for these subscale scores ranged between .70 and .88. Convergent validity evidence was established by correlating EAT-26 subscales with four external criteria including body mass index, the difference between self-reported ideal and actual weights, the Drive for Thinness subscale of the Eating Disorders Inventory-2 (EDI-2; Garner, 1991), and the Body Dissatisfaction subscale of the EDI-2.