Assessing eating disordered behaviour in overweight children and adolescents: bridging the gap between a self-report questionnaire and a gold standard interview

The current study compared two measurements assessing eating disorder psychopathology in overweight children and adolescents: an interview and a self-report questionnaire. An adjusted version of the child eating disorder examination questionnaire (chede-q) was compared with the child eating disorder examination interview (chede), which is considered the gold standard. Thirty-eight overweight children and adolescents (aged 8-14) participated in the study. Regarding objective bulimic episodes, the current study found that using smaller chunks of information decreased the discrepancy between interview and questionnaire. The chances are that the gap between chede-q and chede can be reduced if more attention is paid to children’s abilities concerning the understanding of complex concepts. (netherlands journal of psychology, 63, 102-106)