THE EMOTIONAL EATING SCALE - THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MEASURE TO ASSESS COPING WITH NEGATIVE AFFECT BY EATING

The development of the Emotional Eating Scale (EES) is described. The factor solution replicated the scale's construction, revealing Anger/F rustration, Anxiety, and Depression subscales. All three subscales cor related highly with measures of binge eating, providing evidence of co nstruct validity. None of the EES subscales correlated significantly w ith general measures of psychopathology. With few exceptions, changes in EES subscales correlated with treatment-related changes in binge ea ting. In support of the measure's discriminant efficiency, when compar ed with obese binge eaters, subscale scores of a sample of anxiety-dis ordered patients were significantly lower. Lack of correlation between a measure of cognitive restraint and EES subscales suggests that emot ional eating may precipitate binge episodes among the obese independen t of the level of restraint. The 25-item scale is presented in an Appe ndix (Arnow, B., Kenardy, J., & Agras, W.S.: International Journal of Eating Disorders, 17, 00-00, 1995). (C) 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc .