Objective: The study examined the cross-cultural validity of the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) in Greece, with 26 items under three subscales (‘Dieting’, ‘Bulimia and Food Preoccupation’, ‘Oral Control’).
Method: A total of 167 Greek undergraduate students (19 to 23 years old), and 20 female patients with Eating Disor¬ders (13 to 42 years old) were examined with exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.
Results: The factor analysis of the EAT-26 revealed a 13 items EAT model, with the three subscales ‘Food Preoccu¬pation’, ‘Dieting’ and ‘Important Others’ fit the data (X2/df=1.24, AGFI = .91). Cronbach alpha and test retest reliability coefficients were at the appropriate range. The groups of patients and undergraduate students differed sig¬nificantly (Wilks’ Lambda = .52 , p < .05) and 12 emerged as a new cut-off score for EAT-13.
Conclusion: Cultural adaptation of the EAT-26 showed a new 13 item model which appears to be valid and reliable for the detection of eating disorders in Greek population.