Ortoressia Nervosa: un’indagine del costrutto e delle caratteristiche psicometriche della versione italiana dell’Eating Habits Questionnaire- 21(EHQ-21)

Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) refers to a marked concern about healthy eating which involves the avoidance of foods considered unhealthy and excessive amounts of time dedicated to obtaining information on the composition of foods and buying and preparing specific foods based on perceived healthy criteria. The aims of this study were to describe ON features on the basis of scientific literature data and toinvestigate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Eating Habits Questionnaire-21 (EHQ-21) through the conduction of a study made up of 204 non-clinical subjects. Results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the EHQ-21 was a reliable measure made up of three factors that assess knowledge of healthy eating (Knowledge), problems associated with healthy eating (Problems) and feeling positively about healthy eating (Feelings). The EHQ-21 total score correlates with the Eating Disorder Inventory-3-Referral Form (EDI-3-RF), which assesses eating disorders symptoms, whilst relevant correlations between the EHQ-21 and other measures that evaluate anxiety and depression did not emerge. These results support the possibility of using the EHQ-21 with the Italian population.