Psychometric Properties of Minnesota Eating Survey between Female High School Students in Esfahan

The present research aim to evaluate
psychometric properties, validity and reliability of Minnesota eating behavior survey (MEBS,
von Ranson, Klump, Iacono, Mc Gue, 2005) in female high school students in Isfahan
.This scale is one of the self-report tools for evaluation of anorexia nervosa
symptoms. After translation the English version to Persian and back translation
of MEBS, the existed problems in accordance of two translation were considered
and corrected , so it was performed in a small sample for identification of
probable problems and after that, the essential corrections were done and the
final inventory was administered. Participates of the study were 300 female
high school students from the five regions of Esfahan the samples were selected
through multi-stage cluster random sampling. They fill MEBS and the data were
analyzed with SPSS and LISREL . Factor analysis of the scale via the varimax
rotation showed 3 factors, that covered 56.83 percent of the total variance. Construct
validity also accepted through the 3 factors. Also data analysis reported a
relatively high internal consistency (cronbach alpha was 0.70).The correlation
coefficient between test and retest were 0.93 that indicated a high test-retest
reliability. To consider range of point, T scores was used and score 19 was
indicated as the border of normal from abnormal diagnosis. The results show
that MEBS is a valid and reliable scale that can be apply in research
and clinical situations to diagnose the symptoms of anorexia nervosa in female
adolescents of Esfahan.