Validation of the Teruel Orthorexia Scale and relationship to health anxiety in a U.S. sample.

Background: Scholarly investigation into orthorexia nervosa is relatively new, leading several scholars to develop new measures to adequately assess the concerns thought to underlie this condition. A promising new measure of orthorexia, the Teruel Orthorexia Scale (TOS), was developed using a Spanish sample.

Objective: This study was the first to investigate the psychometric properties of the English version of the TOS in a U.S.

Methods: This study also examined the long-hypothesized relationship between orthorexia and health anxiety. Methods: We used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to evaluate the factor structure of the TOS. We also used correlational methods to test theorized relationships with related concerns.

Results: ESEM supported a 16-item, 2-factor model. Correlations between the modified TOS (i.e., TOS-16) subscales and measures of obsessive-compulsive and eating disorder symptoms, perfectionism, emotional distress, and body image disturbance demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity of the TOS-16. There was a moderate positive correlation between orthorexia nervosa and health anxiety and, together, pursuit of healthy eating and preoccupation with healthy eating accounted for a significant amount of variance in health anxiety after controlling for eating disorder symptoms.

Conclusions: Overall, this research suggests that the TOS-16 demonstrates psychometric properties as good as or better than other measures commonly used to assess the construct in a U.S. Methods: In addition, findings support the consideration of health anxiety as a possible feature of orthorexia nervosa. Methods: Level V, descriptive research.