Validation of the parent version of the eating disorder examination-questionnaire adapted for children in parent-child dyads with children with and without loss of control eating

BackgroundThis study validated a parent-report version of the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire adapted for Children (ChEDE-Q), referred to as the ChEDE-QP, within a population-based sample of parent-child dyads, including both children with and without loss of control (LOC) eating.MethodThe ChEDE-QP was completed by 115 parent-child dyads. Item characteristics, reliability, factor structure, discriminant, convergent, and criterion validity were evaluated. The child version of the Eating Disorder Examination (ChEDE) interview and the ChEDE-Q were used for validation.ResultsMissing item responses occurred in 0-4% of items. Corrected item-subscale correlations were mostly sufficient. Internal consistency ranged from acceptable to excellent. Medium-sized correlations between ChEDE-QP, ChEDE-Q and ChEDE global and subscale scores indicated satisfying convergent validity. Nonsignificant differences between children with and without LOC indicated low discriminant validity. Regarding the presence of LOC eating, parental and child reports were poorly associated.DiscussionThe ChEDE-QP was found to be a reliable questionnaire for assessing children's eating disorder psychopathology, indicating that parents are helpful for gaining a general understanding of eating disorder psychopathology. However, the agreement on the presence of LOC eating between parents and children was low indicating that the ChEDE-QP should not be used for assessing LOC eating episodes in the absence of child report.