2.2.1. Eating Behaviors

The Binge Eating Scale (BES; [22]) is a 16-item self-administered questionnaire used to assess the presence of binge eating behavior indicative of an eating disorder. Eight items describe behavioral manifestations (for example, eating fast or consuming large amounts of food) and eight items on associated feelings and cognitions (for example, fear of not stopping eating). Each item has a response range from 0 to 3 points (0 = no severity of the BES symptoms, 3 = serious problems on the BES symptoms). Marcus et al. (1988) created a range of scores for the BES from 0 to 46 points: a score of less than 17 points indicates minimal binge eating (BE) problems; a score between 18 and 26 points indicates moderate BE problems, and a score of more than 27 points indicates severe BE problems [23]. We considered binge eating as a categorical variable (significant binge eating if BES score ≥18). We used the validated French version [24]. The Cronbach's alpha for the current study was 0.83.

The Bulimic Investigatory Test, Edinburgh (BITE; [25]) is a self-report questionnaire used to evaluate the presence and severity of bulimic symptomatology. It is composed of 33 items divided into two different subscales: a symptom subscale (30 items) and a severity subscale (3 items). Henderson and Freeman (1987) considered a BITE score under 10 points as indicative of no problem with eating behavior, a score between 10 and 20 points as indicative of abnormal eating patterns (from 15 to 20 points warns us of the presence of a possible subthreshold bulimia nervosa), and a score higher than 20 points constitutes altered eating patterns with a possible bulimia nervosa. The Cronbach's alpha for the current study was 0.80.

The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) was administered using the French version to assess three components of eating behavior: emotional, external, and restrained eating [26,27]. It is a self-report measure that contains 33 items. Thirteen items assess emotional eating, 10 items assess external eating, and 10 items assess restrained eating. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale. In the current study, Cronbach's alpha was 0.95 for emotional eating, 0.86 for external eating, and 0.86 for restrained eating.
