Table 1.

Description of tools for measuring binge eating constructs

Domain	Description	Strengths	Limitations	Measures
Respondent-based measures
				Title	Age	Sample items
Semi-structured interviews	Trained assessors rate behavioral, cognitive, and affective experiences based on information provided by respondents	Interviewers can be trained to standardization	Time-consuming Extensive training required to administer Rely on retrospective recall May be costly	Eating Disorder Examination6	14+*	I would like you to describe any times when you have felt that you have eaten too much at one time. When you were eating, did you have a sense of loss of control at the time?
				Eating Disorders Assessment for DSM-5104	18+	Were there times in the last 3 months when you felt out of control and consumed what was clearly a large amount of food?
				Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis I Disorders: Patient Edition105	18+	Have you often had times when your eating was out of control? During these times, do you often eat within any 2 hour period what most people would regard as an unusual amount of food?
				Structured Interview for Anorexic and Bulimic Syndromes106	18+	Did you experience episodes of binge eating during which you ate a large amount of food in a relatively short period of time in the last 3 months or in the past? Did you experience a sense of lack of control over your eating behavior during the binges in the last 3 months or in the past?
Self-report questionnaires	Respondents read and independently respond to written questions	Low cost Rapid administration	Rely on subjective self-report May lack consistency since perceptions of eating-related constructs may vary within and across individuals	Binge Eating Scale107	18+	(a) I usually am able to stop eating when I want to. I know when “enough is enough;” (b) Every so often, I experience a compulsion to eat which I can’t seem to control; (c) Frequently, I experience strong urges to eat which I seem unable to control, but at other times I can control my eating urges; (d) I feel incapable of controlling urges to eat. I have a fear of not being able to stop eating voluntarily.
				Eating Attitudes Test108	11–18*	I have gone on eating binges where I feel that I might not be able stop… always, very often, often, sometimes, rarely, never.
				Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale109	13–65	During the past 6 months have there been times when you felt you have eaten what other people would regard as an unusually large amount of food (e.g., a quart of ice cream) given the circumstances? During the times when you ate an unusually large amount of food, did you experience a loss of control (feel you couldn’t stop eating or control what or how much you were eating)?
				Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire110	16+*	During how many of the past 28 days have there been times when you have eaten what most people would regard as an unusually large amount of food? During how many of these episodes of overeating did you have a sense of having lost control?
				Questionnaire on Eating and Weight Patterns111	18+*	During the past three months, did you ever eat, in a short period of time--for example, a two hour period-- what most people would think was an unusually large amount of food? When you ate a really big amount of food, did you ever feel that you could not stop eating?
				Loss of Control Over Eating scale112		In the last four weeks (28 days), how often have you had the following experiences during a time when you were eating?... My eating felt like a ball rolling down a hill that just kept going and going.
				Eating Loss of Control scale113	18+	During the past four weeks, how many times have you felt helpless to control your eating urges? During the past four weeks, how many times have you felt out of control and eaten an unusually large amount of food (for example, eating two full meals; or eating three main courses; or eating an unusually large amount of one food or combination of foods) in a short period of time (1–2 hours)?
Self-monitoring	Respondents record the occurrence of target behaviors and their correlates in the natural environment	Minimal retrospective recall biases Constructs assessed in natural environment May be paired with objective sensors of eating behavior	Rely on subjective self-report Costly Burdensome to complete at frequent intervals	Paper-and-pencil records Ecological momentary assessment
Laboratory-based measures
Feeding laboratory paradigms	Standardized test meals designed to model LOC and/or overeating episodes administered under controlled conditions	Fewer self-report biases Tighter control over confounds Ability to experimentally manipulate variables related to binge eating constructs	Costly Limited ecological validity	Energy intake Macronutrient content Meal duration Bite velocity
Physiological assessment	Physiological responses tracked during exposure to real or imagined food-related cues	Minimizes many self-report biases Elucidates potential mechanisms underlying binge eating constructs Assesses activity in real time	Costly Difficult to elicit LOC and overeating in most psychophysiological paradigms Limited ecological validity May yield large amount of false positives	Neuroimaging		Functional magnetic resonance imaging Computed tomography Positron emission tomography Electroencephalography Magnetoencephalography Near infrared spectroscopy
				Eye-tracking		Pupillometry Eye movement Eye blink response
				Other		Electrodermal activity Cardiovascular activity Muscular activity

Abbreviations: LOC=loss of control

^*Also available in formats adapted for youth.