Psychometric evaluation of the French version of the Düsseldorfer Orthorexia Skala (DOS) and prevalence of orthorexia nervosa among university students.

PURPOSE: This study aimed at obtaining a French version of the DOS (F-DOS) and evaluating its psychometric properties in a sample of university students, then assessing the prevalence of orthorexic eating behavior among the participants.

METHODS

The F-DOS was obtained using back translation, and then administered to 3235 university students (10.32% men, 89.67% women) with a mean age of 21.13 (SD = 2.23). The Eating Habits Questionnaire and Eating Attitudes Test were used to assess convergent and divergent validities, respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to explore the factor structure.

RESULTS

Ordinal ⍵ of F-DOS was 0.87, indicating very good internal consistency. F-DOS and EHQ total scores were strongly correlated (rs = 0.74, p < 0.001), indicating very good construct validity. Factor analysis revealed a well-fitted one-factor model. Regarding Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) prevalence, according to DOS cut-off score, 3.28% of participants could be considered having ON, while an additional 11.31% could be at risk of developing ON.

CONCLUSIONS

The F-DOS appears to be a valid and reliable instrument to assess orthorexic eating behavior. ON prevalence in college students appeared similar to Germany and lower than in the US.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Descriptive (cross-sectional) study, Level V.