Screening of Disordered Eating in 12-Year-Old Girls and Boys: Psychometric Analysis of the German Versions of SCOFF and EAT-26

To detect eating disorders and risky eating behaviour at an early stage, screening tests should be economic, i.e. as short as possible but at the same time they should fulfil the psychometric quality criteria. We compared the German version of the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26D, which comprises 26 items) and the German version of the SCOFF test (which contains only 5 Yes-no questions) in a community sample of 425 12-year-old girls and 382 boys from Thuringia, Germany. Although the EAT-26D reached higher psychometric properties, the SCOFF has been proved as a useful screening tool with a test-retest reliability of r(tt)=0.73 and a maximum accuracy of 82% (area under the ROC curve). With the EAT-26D (20 point cut-off) as a reference the sensitivity of the SCOFF was 79%, specificity 74%, positive predictive value 25%, and the negative predictive value, which is more relevant for screenings, was 97%. The criterion validity reached r=0.53.