The (Mis)measurement of Restraint: An Analysis of Conceptual and Psychometric Issues

In this article we examine alleged conceptual and psychometric deficiencies of the Restraint Scale, an instrument intended to identify chronic dieters. These deficiencies include the confounding of restraint with disinhibition, the inapplicability of the scale to obese samples, problems with the factor structure of the scale, and difficulties in completing the scale. We argue that these alleged deficiencies are in most cases chimerical and that …