Thinness and Restricting Expectancy Inventory [TREI-44]

Description

The Thinness and Restricting Expectancy Inventory (TREI-44) was developed by Hohlstein, Smith, and Atlas (1998). It is a 44-item self-report instrument grounded in expectancy theory and designed to assess the anticipated positive consequences of being thin and restricting food intake.

The TREI-44 examines beliefs that losing weight, attaining a thin body, or restricting food intake may lead to greater self-confidence, attractiveness, social acceptance, personal control, emotional well-being, or more effective coping.

The instrument does not directly measure actual food intake, dieting frequency, or eating-disorder symptom severity. Instead, it assesses cognitive expectancies that may motivate restrictive eating behaviors.

Aim

The TREI-44 aims to determine the extent to which individuals anticipate psychological, social, and interpersonal benefits from thinness or dietary restriction. Such expectancies may contribute to the development or maintenance of dysfunctional eating patterns.

The instrument can be used to investigate associations with body dissatisfaction, dieting, dietary restraint, self-esteem, and disordered-eating symptoms. It is not a standalone diagnostic measure for anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or any other eating disorder.

Data Analysis and Use

The TREI-44 is generally treated as a unidimensional measure of generalized positive expectancies concerning thinness and dietary restriction. Analysis may include the calculation of a total or mean score, descriptive statistics, and internal consistency assessment using Cronbach’s alpha or McDonald’s omega.

Exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis may be used to examine the instrument’s structure. Scores may also be correlated with measures of body image, self-esteem, dietary restraint, and eating-disorder symptoms.

Scoring

Participants indicate their agreement with each statement using a seven-point Likert scale:

1 = Completely disagree
2 = Mostly disagree
3 = Slightly disagree
4 = Neither agree nor disagree
5 = Slightly agree
6 = Mostly agree
7 = Completely agree

The total score is calculated by summing all 44 responses and ranges from 44 to 308. Alternatively, a mean score ranging from 1 to 7 may be calculated. Higher scores indicate stronger positive expectancies regarding the consequences of thinness and dietary restriction.

No universally accepted diagnostic cut-off scores have been established. Scores should be interpreted according to the characteristics of the population assessed and alongside a specialist evaluation when signs of an eating disorder are present.

References

Hohlstein, L. A., Smith, G. T., & Atlas, J. G. (1998). An application of expectancy theory to eating disorders: Development and validation of measures of eating and dieting expectancies. Psychological Assessment, 10(1), 49–58. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.10.1.49

Fischer, S., Settles, R., Collins, B., Gunn, R., & Smith, G. T. (2012). The role of negative urgency and expectancies in problem drinking and disordered eating: Testing a model of comorbidity in pathological and at-risk samples. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 26(1), 112–123. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023460

Stice, E. (2002). Risk and maintenance factors for eating pathology: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 128(5), 825–848. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.128.5.825