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Measuring behavioural susceptibility to obesity: validation of the child eating behaviour questionnaire
1Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
Insights
The Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ) effectively measures children's eating styles linked to obesity risk. This study validates the CEBQ against actual eating behaviors in young children.
Area of Science:
- Child psychology
- Pediatric obesity research
- Behavioral science
Background:
- The Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ) is a parent-report tool for assessing eating styles associated with obesity risk.
- Previous research established the CEBQ's factor structure and reliability, but validation against objective eating behaviors was lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate the CEBQ by examining associations between its scales and observed eating behaviors in preschool-aged children.
- To determine if specific CEBQ scales (Satiety Responsiveness, Food Responsiveness, Enjoyment of Food) correlate with behavioral measures of eating.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a sample of 4-5-year-old children.
- Examined associations between three CEBQ scales and four behavioral aspects of eating (eating without hunger, caloric compensation, eating rate, energy intake).
- Employed multiple regression analysis with aggregated behavioral measures across multiple eating occasions.
Main Results:
- Behavioral measures explained a significant portion of the variance in CEBQ scales: 56% for Satiety Responsiveness (SR), 33% for Food Responsiveness (FR), and 40% for Enjoyment of Food (EF).
- These findings provide empirical support for the CEBQ's ability to capture relevant eating behaviors.
Conclusions:
- The study validates the CEBQ as a reliable parent-report instrument for assessing 'obesogenic' eating behaviors in children.
- The CEBQ is a valuable tool for large-scale research into the behavioral phenotype associated with childhood obesity risk.
Abstract:
The Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ; [Wardle, J., Guthrie, C.A., Sanderson, S., & Rapoport, L. (2001). Development of the children's eating behaviour questionnaire. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42, 963-970]) is a parent-report questionnaire designed to assess eating styles related to obesity risk. It has been shown to have a robust factor structure and good internal reliability, but has not been validated against behavioural measures of eating. In the present study, associations were examined between three CEBQ scales (Satiety Responsiveness, SR; Food Responsiveness, FR; Enjoyment of Food, EF) and four aspects of eating behaviour (eating without hunger, caloric compensation, eating rate and energy intake at a meal) aggregated across up to five occasions, in a sample of 4-5-year olds. In multiple regression, the aggregated behavioural measures of eating explained 56% of the variance in SR, 33% of the variance in FR and 40% of the variance in EF. These findings support the validity of the CEBQ as a parent-report instrument to assess 'obesogenic' eating behaviours in children. An easily-administered measure such as the CEBQ will be valuable in gathering data on the scale required to study the behavioural phenotype associated with obesity risk.
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