Reexamination of the psychometric properties of the Compensatory Eating and Behaviors in Response to Alcohol Consumption Scale (CEBRACS) and exploration of alternative scoring.

OBJECTIVE

The primary aims of this paper were to reexamine the factor structure of the 21-item Compensatory Eating and Behaviors in Response to Alcohol Consumption Scale (CEBRACS), a measure of Food and Alcohol Disturbance (FAD), and investigate an alternative scoring structure. FAD is the use of disordered eating behaviors within an alcohol use episode to compensate for alcohol-related calories and/or increase effects of alcohol. The new scoring approach captures FAD behaviors based on whether they occurred before, during, or after alcohol use.

METHOD

Participants were 586 young adults (18-30 years; 77.6% female; 55.8% non-Hispanic White) who completed online questionnaires on alcohol use, disordered eating behaviors, and FAD.

RESULTS

Confirmatory factor analyses did not provide unequivocal evidence for any previously proposed factor structures of the CEBRACS. Exploratory factor analysis suggested items capturing FAD "Before" drinking had a two-factor structure (i.e., Alcohol Effects and Compensatory Behaviors), items capturing FAD "During" drinking had a three-factor structure (i.e., Alcohol Effects, Diet & Exercise, and Extreme Weight Control Behaviors [EWCB]), and items capturing FAD "After" drinking had a two-factor structure (i.e., Diet & Exercise & EWCB).

DISCUSSION

The CEBRACS factor structure is not consistent across samples; however, despite suboptimal fit, the original structure remains the best approach to capture FAD behaviors. The alternative scoring reflects FAD behaviors based on when they occur relative to alcohol use. The two scoring approaches provide researchers and clinicians flexibility to describe FAD behaviors in multiple ways using the CEBRACS.