Adaptation study of the Turkish Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire

Objective: We aimed to confirm the validity and internal reliability of Turkish Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) which was a parent-report measure and was designed to assess variations in children's eating styles. Methods: For this methodological study, CEBQ was translated to Turkish and conducted among parents of both preschool students and patients who were admitted pediatric outpatient clinic. 468 of 650 responded questionnaire was examined for factor structure. Results: According to exploratory factor analysis, eight subscales explain 58.2% of variance. Reliability coefficients (Cronbach Alphas) ranged from 0.61 to 0.84. Confirmatory factor analysis was calculated as 0,049 according to the RMSEA index of fitness and this analysis revealed suitability of the scale for Turkish population. Factor structure, internal reliability and subscale correlations were similar to original CEBQ. Conclusion: These results point out the CEBQ is useful to assess children's eating behavior in Turkish children as a psychometrical tool. Sophisticated factors used in questionnaire make easy to detect the tendency of obesity or low appetite in children, to observe children's behavior and to take precautions before emerging pathological situations. (Anatolian Journal of Psychiatry 2011; 12:287-294