Table 1.
Characteristics of the different self-report emotional eating questionnaires.
| Questionnaire | Items | Type of emotion | Example question | Likert scale | Subscales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEBQ—Emotional eating subscale (van Strien et al., 1986) | 13 | Negative | “Do you have a desire to eat when you are depressed or discouraged?” | 1 (never) to 5 (very often) | Clearly labeled emotions (n = 9) |
| Diffuse emotions (n = 4) | |||||
| EES (Arnow et al., 1995)a | 25 | Negative | “Please indicate the extent to which the following feelings lead you to feel an urge to eat by checking the appropriate box.” This is followed by 25 feelings, such as “inadequate.” | 1 (no desire to eat) to 5 (an overwhelming urge to eat) | Anger/frustration (n = 11) Anxiety (n = 9) Depression (n = 5) |
| EES-II (Kenardy et al., 2003)a | 34 | Negative Positive | “Please indicate the extent to which the following feelings lead you to feel an urge to eat by checking the appropriate box.” This is followed by 25 feelings, such as “angry” and “enthusiastic.” | 1 (no desire to eat) to 5 (an overwhelming urge to eat) | Depression (n = 12) Positive mood (n = 11) Anger (n = 6) Anxiety (n = 5) |
| TFEQ-R18—Emotional eating subscale (Karlsson et al., 2000)a | 3 | Negative | “When I feel anxious, I find myself eating.” | 1 (definitely false) to 4 (definitely true) | – |
| EMAQ (Geliebter and Aversa, 2003)a | 22 | Negative Positive | “As compared to usual, do you eat……” This is followed by 14 feelings and 8 situations, such as “when you are confident' and ‘after a heated argument.” | 1 (much less) to 9 (much more) | Negative emotions (n = 9) Negative situations (n = 5) Positive emotions (n = 5) Positive situations (n = 3) |
| EOQ (Masheb and Grilo, 2006)a | 6 | Negative Positive | “On how many days out of the past 28 days have you eaten an unusually large amount of food, given the circumstances, in response to feelings of…” This is followed by 6 feelings, such as “happiness” and “sadness.” | 0 (no days) to 6 (every day) | – |
DEBQ, Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire; EES, Emotional Eating Scale; TFEQ-R, Three Factor Eating Questionnaire—Revised; EMAQ, Emotional Appetite Questionnaire; EOQ, Emotional Overeating Questionnaire.
a
The questionnaire is freely available.