Objective: The eating disorder examination-questionnaire (EDE-Q) is among the most widely used instruments in eating disorder research and clinical practice.However, the underlying structure remains a source of confusion, and contradictory results have emerged in studies among male populations. In the current study, we examined previously proposed models of EDE-Q structure in four community samples of Argentinian men.Method: A series of confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were performed for five previous factor structure models of the EDE-Q among 232 Argentinian male university students, 277 weightlifters, 275 cross-fit users, and 202 athletes. A multigroup CFA was conducted in the model we retained, to assess measurement invariance across groups.Results: A respecified model of the brief eight-item one-factor proposal provided acceptable fit to the data over the original four-factor structure and three other proposed models. Results from the multigroup CFA showed that the retained model was invariant across samples.
Conclusion:Our results provide support for retaining a one-factor EDE-Q structure over a multifactor solution for research purposes among male community samples in Argentina. These data underscore the importance of undertaking psychometric assessment of eating disorder symptom measures before their utilization in specific populations.
K E Y W O R D SMeasurement invariance, men, Argentina, CFA, eating disorders examinationquestionnaire, men
It is believed that Women’s exposure to Western sociocultural pressures to attain a “thin-ideal” results in the internalization of a desire to be thin that consequently leads to body dissatisfaction (BD). It is also well documented that body mass index (BMI; kg/m
2
) correlates with BD. We tested for the first time a conditional mediation model where thin-ideal
Awareness
predicted
BD
through
Internalization
of the thin ideal and the path from
Internalization
to
BD
was hypothesized to be moderated by
BMI
and
Nationality
(Argentine vs. Spanish). The model was tested with a sample of 499 young women (age = 18 to 29) from Argentina (
n
= 290) and Spain (
n
= 209). Awareness and internalization were measured with the
SATAQ-4
(
Schaefer et al., 2015
) and BD was measured with the
BSQ
(
Cooper et al., 1987
). The model was analyzed using
PROCESS
v3.1
(
Hayes, 2018
). As hypothesized, thin-ideal awareness predicted BD through internalization and the path from internalization to BD was moderated by BMI and nationality. Specifically, internalization predicted BD at all level of BMI and in both samples, but the relationship between internalization and BD increased with BMI and was also stronger among Spaniards than Argentines. We argue that the findings are congruent with theories that predict that economic development and modernization contribute to normative female BD through internalization of the thin ideal and that upward social comparisons or cognitive discrepancy between self-perceived body image and the sociocultural thin ideal interacts synergistically with thin-ideal internalization to increase BD.
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