Development and validation of a brief screening tool for men's disordered eating
Year: 2026
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Introduction: At least one quarter of adults with conventional eating disorders (EDs; e.g., anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, which are conceptualized as being "thinness-oriented") are men. Men also account for most cases of muscle dysmorphia (MD), which many experts consider to be an ED that predominantly affects men. No screening tools exist to detect disordered eating specifically in men despite evidence that men experience different ED symptoms and use different language to describe their conditions. Objective: This study developed and validated a brief screening tool for men's disordered eating. It also established a cutoff score optimizing sensitivity and specificity. Method: We conducted this study in two phases. In the development phase, we workshopped potential items in qualitative interviews with nine men with current eating disorders. In the validation phase, we performed item-level analyses and exploratory (n = 213) and confirmatory factor analysis (n = 212) before analyzing other psychometric properties (e.g., test-retest reliability). Results: The final version of the MDES contained eight Likert-type items covering symptoms of conventional EDs and MD. At its optimal cutoff score of 11, sensitivity was .88, and specificity was .70. The MDES demonstrated strong convergent and discriminant validity, as well as strong test-retest reliability. Discussion: This brief screening tool for men's disordered eating, the first of its kind, has broad implementation potential on college campuses and in other settings (e.g., primary care and VA clinics) where men interface with the healthcare system.
DOI: 10.17918/00011350
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W7161117247