Both of our self-report measures of dietary restraint include questions that inquire about intent to diet (e.g., “I try to eat less”) and engagement in behaviors aimed at reducing caloric intake (e.g., “I refuse food offered”). Because of the debate surrounding self-report measures of dieting (Stice et al., 2004), we sought to determine whether intent to diet and the actual behaviors of dietary restriction existed as different restraint constructs in our data and whether type of dietary restraint differentially moderates gene/binge eating associations. Therefore, items from the EDE-Q and DEBQ restraint scales were subjected to a principal-axis exploratory factor analysis. Item scores were standardized prior to this analysis, as DEBQ and EDE-Q items were rated on slightly different scales (5- vs. 7-point scales). Kaiser's criterion (Eigenvalues > 1) in combination with Scree plot analysis was used for factor retention (Osborne & Costello, 2005).
