Screening for eating disorders in adolescents: psychometric evaluation of the eating disorder examination questionnaire short version (EDE-QS) in a community sample

This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire Short version (EDE-QS) in a community sample of adolescents and to establish an optimal clinical cut-off score for screening purposes. Clinical interview and self-report data were collected as part of a broader epidemiological study conducted across six upper secondary schools in Norway. The sample included 1,430 adolescents (744 females, 686 males) aged 16-19 years (M = 17.03, SD = 0.90). Data were collected between November 2020 and May 2021. Psychometric evaluation included confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), assessment of convergent validity, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to determine the optimal clinical cut-off score in females. The EDE-QS demonstrated good structural validity and excellent internal consistency. Findings also supported its convergent and criterion validity. The measure appears particularly suitable for epidemiological and clinical research contexts, where brief yet valid screening tools are essential. ROC analysis using the Youden criterion identified a cut-off score of 20 as providing the optimal balance of sensitivity (0.64) and specificity (0.81). This cut-off was derived from female participants only. The EDE-QS combines robust psychometric properties with brevity, making it especially appropriate for use in large-scale epidemiological and clinical studies, where minimizing participant burden is critical. A limitation of the current study is that the clinical cut-off was established based solely on diagnostic data from female participants. Further validation is needed to assess the utility of the EDE-QS as a screening tool in male and gender-diverse adolescents. Not applicable.