Validation of a child version of the three-factor eating questionnaire in a Canadian sample - a psychometric tool for the evaluation of eating behaviour

Abstract

Objective: To examine score validity and reliability of a Child version of the 21-item Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (CTFEQ-R21) in a sample of Canadian children and adolescents and its relationship with body mass index (BMI) z-scores and food/taste preferences. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: School-based. Subjects: 158 children, 63 boys (11.5±1.6 years) and 95 girls (11.9±1.9 years). Results: The exploratory factor analysis revealed that the CTFEQ-R21 was best represented by four factors with item 17 removed (CFFEQ-R20) representing Cognitive Restraint (CR), Cognitive Uncontrolled Eating (UE 1), External Uncontrolled Eating (UE 2), and Emotional Eating (EE) and accounted for 41.2% of the total common variance, with good scale reliability. ANOVAs revealed that younger children reported higher UE 1 scores and CR scores compared to older children, and boys who reported high UE 1 scores had significantly higher BMI Z-scores. Children with high UE 1 scores reported a greater preference for high protein and fat foods, and high-fat savoury (HFSA) and high-fat sweet (HFSW) foods. Higher preference for high protein, fat, and carbohydrate foods, and HFSA, HFSW, and low-fat savoury foods was found in children with high UE 2 scores. Conclusions: This study suggests that the CFFEQ-R20 can be used to measure eating behaviour traits and associations with BMI z-scores and food/taste preferences in Canadian children and adolescents. Future research is needed to examine the validity of the questionnaire in larger samples and in other geographical locations, as well as the inclusion of extraneous variables such as parental eating or socio-economic status.