While the use of classic test theory (CTT) is widespread in research, CTT does

present some inadequacies for constructing/validating psychometric measures; for example, CTT does not measure latent variables such as eating disorder severity adequately and is both sample- and item-dependent, which increases the error of the measurement.51 and 52 Specific to the results of this review regarding validity and reliability, it is concerning the most frequently calculated/cited type of validity was convergent validity. Convergent validity is typically employed when a researcher wishes to draw a correlation between a specific field measure and another field measure within an area of research.32 A field measure is typically less accurate when used to assess an attribute Palbociclib solubility dmso compared with a “gold standard” because field tests usually contain more errors. For example, when measuring aerobic fitness, a 12-min running test (a field test) is often less accurate than a laboratory test (a gold standard) because many factors such as running efficiency, road condition, or temperature can introduce measurement errors in the 12-min running test. In this regard, convergent

validity Selleckchem GSK1120212 is less preferred if criterion-related validity, determined by correlating scores from a field measure to those from a gold standard measure, of a measure can be established. Regarding eating disorder assessments, no measure is considered the “gold standard” within the field, which renders the measurement of criterion-related validity inadequate for eating disorder measures. Regarding reliability, 24 studies calculated internal consistency while only three studies calculated test-retest reliability. Although measures of internal consistency are commonly used, further tests of other types of reliability might be advocated for reliability checking. Specifically, it may be worthwhile to include test-retest reliability in the evaluation of eating disorder measurements in athlete populations to assess whether or not athletes achieve

approximately the same ED score during Phosphoribosylglycinamide formyltransferase multiple assessments53 and/or to ensure that changes of ED scores over time are not the result of measurement property change of the eating disorder measures. A limitation of the current study is that this review could not present sufficient information about the validity and reliability of eating disorder measures across genders and sport types. As such, these results cannot provide recommendations on whether an eating disorder measure assesses ED similarly across different athlete groups because such information on comparing groups and measurement invariance was unavailable in the current literature. If researchers want to make meaningful comparisons about the prevalence and severity of ED across athlete groups (e.g., male/female, different sport types), it is essential to establish that a measure is not only valid across groups but also evaluates the groups in the same way prior to comparing mean scores.