Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Armstrong, Kevin, J.

Committee Member

Geisen, J. Martin

Committee Member

Klein, Stephen B.

Date of Degree

12-13-2008

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Psychology

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Psychology

Abstract

This study provides preliminary data from a parent-report measure for assessing eating disorder symptoms in preadolescents. The Parent Eating Behaviors and Body Image Test (PEBBIT) is based on the Eating Behaviors and Body Image Test (EBBIT; Candy & Fee, 1998), a self-report measure for preadolescent girls. Eighty-three females in grades 4 through 6 were contacted from elementary schools, but only 10 participated. Girls’ individual responses on the EBBIT were compared to parental responses on the PEBBIT. Parents were able to accurately identify eating disorder behaviors in their children only 65.3% of the time when analyzing the individual responses found on the Binge Eating Behaviors subscale and only 58.6% of the time on the Body Image Disturbance Restrictive Eating subscale. Preliminary analyses suggest that a) clinicians and clinical researchers should supplement preadolescent girls’ self-report with parent report measures, and b) more detailed study of the PEBBIT’s psychometric properties is warranted.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/17101

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