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Eating Attitudes Test: Do I Have an Eating Disorder?

The Eating Attitudes Test aims to answer the question, "do I have an eating disorder?". Eating disorders are serious and potentially life-threatening mental illnesses. By honestly answering the questions on the Eating Attitudes Test, you can find out if you should be professionally screened for an eating disorder. (More about the Eating Attitudes Test). If you are looking for a shorter evaluation tool, take the eating disorders quiz.

Eating Attitudes Test: About You

Age: Sex: Height: feet, inches
Current Weight (lbs.):
Highest Weight: Lowest Adult Weight:

Education:If currently enrolled in college/university, are you a:
Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior Grad Student

If not enrolled in school, level of education completed:
Jr. High/Middle School High School College Post College

Ethnic/Racial Group: African American Asian American European American Hispanic American Indian Other

Do you participate in athletics at any of the following levels:
Intramural Inter-Collegiate Recreational High School Teams

Please check a response for each of the following statements:

  Always Usually Often Sometimes Rarely Never
1. Am terrified about being overweight
2. Avoid eating when I am hungry
3. Find myself preoccupied with food
4. Have gone on eating binges where I feel I may not be able to stop
5. Cut my food into small pieces
6. Aware of the calorie content of foods I eat
7. Particularly avoid food with a high carbohydrate content (bread, rice, potatoes, etc.)
8. Feel that others would prefer if I ate more
9. Vomit after I have eaten
10. Feel extremely guilty after eating
11. Am preoccupied with a desire to be thinner
12. Think about burning up calories when I exercise
13. Other people think I'm too thin
14. Am preoccupied with the thought of having fat on my body
15. Take longer than others to eat my meals
16. Avoid foods with sugar in them
17. Eat diet foods
18. Feel that food controls my life
19. Display self-control around food
20. Feel that others pressure me to eat
21. Give too much time and thought to food
22. Feel uncomfortable after eating sweets
23. Engage in dieting behavior
24. Like my stomach to be empty
25. Have the impulse to vomit after meals
26. Enjoy trying new rich foods

Eating Attitudes Test: Do you have Binge Eating Behaviors?

Please respond to each of the following Eating Attitudes Test questions:

1. Have you gone on eating binges where you feel that you may not be able to stop?
(Eating much more than most people would eat under the circumstances)
No Yes If yes, on average, how many times per month in the last 6 months?

2. Have you ever made yourself sick (vomited) to control your weight or shape?
No Yes If yes, on average, how many times per month in the last 6 months?

3. Have you ever used laxatives, diet pills or diuretics (water pills) to control your weight or shape?
No Yes If yes, on average, how many times per month in the last 6 months?

4. Have you ever been treated for an eating disorder? No Yes If yes, when?

5. Have you recently thought of or attempted suicide? No Yes If yes, when?

SCORING THE EATING ATTITUDES TEST: Answering "Do I Have an Eating Disorder?

To score the Eating Attitudes Test follow this guide:

For all items except #25 on the Eating Attitudes Test, each of the responses receives the following value:

  • Always = 3
  • Usually = 2
  • Often = 1
  • Sometimes = 0
  • Rarely = 0
  • Never = 0

For item #25, the responses receive these values:

  • Always = 0
  • Usually = 0
  • Often = 0
  • Sometimes = 1
  • Rarely = 2
  • Never = 3

After scoring each item on the Eating Attitudes Test, add the scores for a total that will help answer the question, "do I have an eating disorder?" If your score on the Eating Attitudes Test is over 20, we recommend you discuss your responses to the Eating Attitudes Test with a counselor or your doctor (print and take the Eating Attitudes Test and your responses with you to your first appointment).

If you responded yes to any of the five YES/NO items on the bottom of the Eating Attitudes Test, we also suggest that you discuss your responses with a counselor or your doctor.

See Also:

articles references

APA Reference
Tracy, N. (2022, January 4). Eating Attitudes Test: Do I Have an Eating Disorder?, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, November 5 from https://www.healthyplace.com/eating-disorders/eating-disorders-overview/eating-attitudes-test-do-i-have-an-eating-disorder

Last Updated: January 12, 2022

Medically reviewed by Harry Croft, MD

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