Validation of the Body Checking Questionnaire (BCQ) in an Eating Disorders Population

Abstract

The aim of this study was to validate the Body Checking Questionnaire (BCQ) in an eating disorder population, using students in psychology as control. Five hundred and seventy-three females (422 controls and 151 eating disorders patients, mean age 24.1 ± 5.9 years) completed the BCQ and measures of eating disorders psychopathology. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that the BCQ measures the global construct of body checking with three correlated subfactors. The BCQ has good test-retest reliability (0.90), and the subfactors had good internal consistency (0.90, 0.92, and 0.84). The BCQ correlates with other body image and eating disorders measures, indicating that the BCQ measure has good concurrent validity. Finally, the BCQ reliably distinguishes eating disorders patients from controls, as well as “dieters” from “non-dieters.” The study provides support for factor structure, validity and reliability of the BCQ on eating disorders population and supports the use of this questionnaire in cross-national studies.