Assessing readiness to change binge eating and compensatory behaviors.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether assessing motivation to change binge eating and compensatory behaviors separately would better describe concurrent bulimic symptomatology compared with a general measure of readiness to change eating behaviors. Participants completed the Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale [EDDS: Stice, Telch, & Rizvi, in Psychol. Assess. 12 (2000) 123] to assess binging and compensatory behaviors, as well as three measures of readiness to change based on the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment Scale (URICA; McConnaughy, DiClemente, Prochaska, & Velicer (1989)): a general measure, which asked about eating behaviors in general, and two behavior specific measures, one asking about binging behavior only and the other asking about compensatory behaviors only. Results revealed that assessing readiness to change binge eating and compensatory behaviors separately accounted for greater variance in bulimic behaviors than a general measure of readiness to change. Results also provided discriminate validity for measuring readiness to change binge eating and compensatory behaviors separately. Results highlight the utility of assessing readiness to change bulimic symptomatology and the importance of measuring motivation to change binging and compensatory behaviors separately.