Eating behavior and body image represent closely interconnected domains involving regulation of food intake, perception of the body, and evaluation of appearance. These processes are shaped by biological needs, psychological factors, and sociocultural influences, and they play a central role in both well-being and psychopathology.
Contemporary research conceptualizes eating behavior not only as a matter of nutrition, but as a complex system involving control, reward sensitivity, emotional regulation, and cognitive representations of food and the body. Similarly, body image extends beyond objective appearance and reflects subjective perception, beliefs, and emotional responses related to one's physical self.
Assessment in this domain includes measures of disordered eating, everyday eating styles, body image, and sociocultural influences.
A core group of instruments focuses on the identification and severity of disordered eating patterns.
The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) is a widely used screening instrument for symptoms associated with eating disorders.
The Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) provides a more detailed assessment of eating disorder psychopathology, including restraint, eating concern, weight concern, and shape concern.
The Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) assesses a broad range of psychological traits associated with eating disorders, including perfectionism, body dissatisfaction, and interoceptive awareness. © proprietary
The Eating Pathology Symptoms Inventory (EPSI) is a contemporary multidimensional measure assessing a wide range of eating disorder symptoms, including body dissatisfaction, cognitive restraint, binge eating, purging, and muscle building.
The SCOFF Questionnaire offers a brief screening tool for identifying individuals at risk of eating disorders.
The Clinical Impairment Assessment (CIA) evaluates the extent to which eating-related problems interfere with psychosocial functioning.
The Binge-Eating Scale (BES) assesses behavioral and emotional features associated with binge eating.
The Eating Disorder-15 (ED-15) assesses eating disorder symptoms and related impairment over a short timeframe.
Not all variations in eating reflect pathology. Many instruments assess characteristic patterns of eating behavior.
The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) distinguishes between emotional eating, external eating, and restrained eating.
The Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) assesses cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating, and emotional eating.
The Disordered Eating Attitude Scale (DEAS) captures maladaptive attitudes toward food and eating.
The Adult Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (AEBQ) assesses adult appetitive traits, including food responsiveness, enjoyment of food, hunger, etc.
The Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) assesses intuitive eating, including unconditional permission to eat, eating for physical rather than emotional reasons, reliance on hunger and satiety cues, and body–food choice congruence.
The Schema Mode Inventory for Eating Disorders (SMI-ED) assesses schema modes specifically relevant to eating disorders. It adapts the broader schema therapy framework to disordered eating.
The Children's Eating Attitudes Test (ChEAT) assesses disordered eating attitudes and behaviors in children.
Eating behavior is strongly influenced by cognitive and experiential processes.
The Thoughts and Behaviours Questionnaire (TBQ) assesses dysfunctional thoughts and behavioral patterns related to eating.
The Food Acceptance and Awareness Questionnaire (FAAQ) reflects psychological flexibility in relation to food, including acceptance of cravings and values-based eating.
The Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) conceptualizes certain eating patterns as addiction-like behavior, focusing on loss of control and compulsive consumption.
The Weight Efficacy Lifestyle Questionnaire (WEL) assesses confidence in resisting overeating across different emotional and situational contexts.
Orthorexia measures assess excessive preoccupation with healthy, pure, or “correct” eating patterns, especially when these concerns become rigid, distressing, or impairing.
The ORTO-15 Questionnaire assesses orthorexic eating tendencies, including excessive concern with food quality, healthy eating rules, and perceived control over eating behavior.
The Orthorexia Nervosa Inventory (ONI) assesses orthorexic symptoms, including fixation on healthy eating, emotional distress, and impairment associated with rigid dietary rules.
○ The Bratman Orthorexia Self-Test is an early screening tool for orthorexic eating patterns.
Body image refers to how individuals perceive, evaluate, and emotionally experience their physical appearance.
The Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) assesses concerns about body shape and weight, focusing on dissatisfaction, preoccupation with appearance, and fear of weight gain. It is one of the most widely used measures of body dissatisfaction in both clinical and non-clinical populations.
The Body Appreciation Scale (BAS-2) assesses positive body image, including acceptance and respect for one's body.
The Body Esteem Scale (BES) assesses self-evaluations of physical appearance and body-related satisfaction across multiple body domains.
The Body-Focused Shame and Guilt Scale (BFSGS) assesses body-related self-conscious emotions, particularly shame and guilt associated with appearance, body evaluation, and physical self-perception.
The Body Image Guilt and Shame Scale (BIGSS) assesses guilt- and shame-related emotional responses associated with body image, appearance concerns, and perceived discrepancies between one's body and personal standards.
The Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ) provides a comprehensive assessment of body-related attitudes, including appearance evaluation and investment in appearance.
The Body Image Quality of Life Inventory (BIQLI) measures the impact of body image on daily functioning.
The Body Image Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (BI-AAQ) assesses body image flexibility, or the ability to experience body-related thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions with openness while continuing to act in accordance with personal values.
The Body Image States Scale (BISS) assesses momentary body image, including current satisfaction or dissatisfaction with physical appearance.
The Situational Inventory of Body-Image Dysphoria (SIBID) assesses body-image distress across specific situations that may trigger discomfort, self-consciousness, or dissatisfaction.
The Body Investment Scale (BIS) assesses emotional attitudes toward the body, including body image, body care, body protection, and comfort with physical contact.
The Contour Drawing Rating Scale (CDRS) provides a visual measure of perceived and ideal body size by asking respondents to select body silhouettes that represent current and desired body shape.
More severe disturbances in body perception are captured by measures of body dysmorphic concerns.
The Appearance Anxiety Inventory (AAI) assesses cognitive and behavioral features of appearance-related anxiety.
The Dysmorphic Concern Questionnaire (DCQ) assesses excessive concern with perceived defects in appearance.
The Body Dysmorphic Disorder Questionnaire (BDDQ-DV) and the Body Dysmorphic Disorder – Dimensional Scale (BDD-D) provide screening and dimensional assessment of body dysmorphic symptoms.
The Detail and Flexibility Questionnaire (DFlex) assesses cognitive rigidity, excessive attention to detail, and inflexible self-control, particularly in eating and body image contexts.
Body image is strongly shaped by social comparison and cultural norms.
The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ-3) assesses internalization of societal beauty standards and perceived pressure from media and peers. The SATAQ-SM adapts this framework to social media contexts, capturing internalization of appearance ideals and perceived pressure from digital environments.
Social comparison and appearance-schema measures assess how people compare their appearance with others and how strongly appearance is tied to self-evaluation.
The Physical Appearance Comparison Scale (PACS-R) assesses the tendency to compare one's physical appearance with the appearance of other people.
The Appearance Schema Inventory (ASI-R) assesses the importance, self-evaluative meaning, and motivational salience of physical appearance.
The Upward and Downward Physical Appearance Comparison Scales (UPACS/DACS) extend this approach by distinguishing between upward comparisons (to more attractive others) and downward comparisons (to less attractive others).
Appearance-related interpersonal sensitivity measures assess fear of rejection, negative evaluation, or unfavorable self-presentation based on physical appearance.
The Appearance-Based Rejection Sensitivity (Appearance-RS) assesses anxious expectations of rejection based on physical appearance.
The Fear of Negative Appearance Evaluation Scale (FNAES) assesses fear that one's physical appearance will be negatively evaluated by others.
The Negative Self-Portrayal Scale (NSPS) assesses concerns about making a negative impression on others through visible signs of anxiety, appearance, or self-presentation.
The Phenomenological Body Shame Scale (PBSS-R) captures emotional experiences of shame related to the body.
The Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (OBC) assesses the tendency to view one's body from an external perspective, reflecting internalization of social standards and evaluative norms. It is related to gender attitudes but is more specifically a measure of self-objectification.
Eating behavior and body image form a tightly interconnected system linking physiological regulation, cognitive processes, emotional experience, and social context.
Measures of eating behavior capture both everyday patterns and clinically significant disturbances, while body image instruments assess subjective perception and evaluation of the body. Sociocultural and interpersonal measures highlight the role of comparison, norms, and social feedback in shaping these experiences.
A comprehensive assessment integrates these perspectives, recognizing that eating and body-related processes are influenced by both internal regulation mechanisms and external social environments.