Examining the Factor Structure and Subgroup Invariance of the Deliberate Denial of Disordered Eating Behaviors Scale

The denial, concealment, or omission of disordered eating behaviors has received limited attention in the eating disorder literature, partly due to the lack of reliable and valid measures. This study re-examined the factor structure of the Denial of Disordered Eating Behaviors Scale (DDEBS-12) and tested measurement invariance across gender identity, racial identity, and levels of disordered eating in a non-clinical undergraduate sample (N = 3285). Confirmatory factor analyses did not support the original unidimensional structure. Instead, a seven-item model assessing denial of dietary restriction demonstrated the best fit and was renamed the DDEBS-restriction. The revised scale showed good internal consistency and demonstrated expected associations with measures of concealment, disclosure, and dietary restriction, supporting convergent and criterion validity. Measurement invariance analyses supported configural and metric invariance across men and women, Black and White participants, and individuals with non-clinical versus elevated levels of disordered eating; scalar invariance was not supported across disordered eating severity groups. These findings suggest that the DDEBS-restriction demonstrates promising psychometric properties within an undergraduate sample, though additional research is needed to establish its generalizability across broader and more diverse populations.