Transcultural comparison of eating attitudes in young females and anorectic patients.

Eating attitudes were assessed by use of the Eating Attitude Test (EAT) in two samples of normal German female adolescents and young adults. In addition scores from clinical samples of anorectic patients were available. The EAT contributed to an adequate differentiation between normal controls and clinical patients. There were marked transcultural differences with regard to mean and cut-off scores obtained in Anglo-Saxon studies where the present samples scored lowest. Reliability in terms of internal consistency and stability was more satisfactory. Neither age nor SES were significantly related to the total score. Subjects with extreme obesity had significantly increased scores on the EAT.