Given past concerns about assessing binge eating using self-report measures (Fairburn & Beglin, 1994; von Ranson et al., 2005), we used a multi-method approach to assess the construct. Specifically, we measured binge eating using both the Binge Eating subscale from the Minnesota Eating Behavior Survey (MEBS; Klump et al., 2000; von Ranson et al., 2005)2 as well as the Emotional Eating subscale from the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ: van Strien et al., 1986). The MEBS is a 30-item true/false self-report measure and the Binge Eating subscale is comprised of 7 items. Support for the reliability and validity of this subscale has been previously reported for young adults (Klump et al., 2000; von Ranson et al., 2005). Internal consistency for this subscale is adequate in the current sample (see Table 1) and previous samples (von Ranson et al., 2005). Finally, discriminant validity of the MEBS Binge Eating subscale is well established, as women with BN score higher on this scale than unaffected control women (von Ranson et al., 2005).
