Comparison of the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) in the Netherlands, Austria and Italy

OBJECTIVE: Comparison of scores of the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) in non-clinical females aged 15-35 years (total n = 2402) in three European countries with North-South variation. METHODS: Participants were high school girls from the Netherlands (n = 642), Austria (n = 544) and Italy (n = 359), and college students from the Netherlands (n = 348), Austria (n = 114) and Italy (n = 395). RESULTS: Age-dependent differences of EDI subscale scores were observed. Whereas in Dutch females weight and body shape concerns had a peak between 16 and 19 years, these concerns remained relatively constant in Italy and Austria. The Italian scores were significantly higher than the Dutch scores on almost all EDI subscales whereby effects were small or medium. CONCLUSIONS: The scores may be influenced by socio-cultural factors, cultural traits, culture-specific social demands on young adults and differences in maturation between North and South Europe. National norms are necessary for different age, weight and sex groups.