Examining the Factor Structure and Subgroup Invariance of the Deliberate Denial of Disordered Eating Behaviors Scale

Authors

• Lindsay Howard, Augustana University
• Sage Hawn, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
• Kayla D. Pitchford, The Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology
• Riley McGrath, St. Catherine University
• Aubri Farniok, St. Catherine University
• Arturo Sesma, St. Catherine University
• Kristin E. Heron, Old Dominion UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.3390/bs16060898

Publication Title

Behavioral Sciences

Volume

16

Issue

6

Pages

898

Abstract

The denial, concealment, or omission of disordered eating behaviors has received limited attention in the eating disorder literature, partly due to the lack of reliable and valid measures. This study re-examined the factor structure of the Denial of Disordered Eating Behaviors Scale (DDEBS-12) and tested measurement invariance across gender identity, racial identity, and levels of disordered eating in a non-clinical undergraduate sample (N = 3285). Confirmatory factor analyses did not support the original unidimensional structure. Instead, a seven-item model assessing denial of dietary restriction demonstrated the best fit and was renamed the DDEBS-restriction. The revised scale showed good internal consistency and demonstrated expected associations with measures of concealment, disclosure, and dietary restriction, supporting convergent and criterion validity. Measurement invariance analyses supported configural and metric invariance across men and women, Black and White participants, and individuals with non-clinical versus elevated levels of disordered eating; scalar invariance was not supported across disordered eating severity groups. These findings suggest that the DDEBS-restriction demonstrates promising psychometric properties within an undergraduate sample, though additional research is needed to establish its generalizability across broader and more diverse populations.

Rights

© 2026 by the authors.

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) International License.

Data Availability

Article states: "Data, analysis code, and research materials are not available, but can be made available upon request."

Original Publication Citation

Howard, L., Hawn, S., Pitchford, K. D., McGrath, R., Farniok, A., Sesma, A., & Heron, K. E. (2026). Examining the factor structure and subgroup invariance of the deliberate denial of disordered eating behaviors scale. Behavioral Sciences, 16(6), Article 898. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs16060898

ORCID

0000-0001-8501-4169 (Hawn), 0000-0002-7452-876X (Heron)

Repository Citation

Howard, Lindsay; Hawn, Sage; Pitchford, Kayla D.; McGrath, Riley; Farniok, Aubri; Sesma, Arturo; and Heron, Kristin E., "Examining the Factor Structure and Subgroup Invariance of the Deliberate Denial of Disordered Eating Behaviors Scale" (2026). Psychology Faculty Publications. 255.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/psychology_fac_pubs/255