Psychometric Validation of Emotions in the Motivation of Eating Questionnaire (EMEQ)

Abstract

The appropriate measurement of how emotions affects eating is an important clue to guide health strategies in terms of prevention of eating disorders and obesity. The aim of the present study was to validate an instrument to measure the influence of emotions on the eating motivation, from the construction to its validation. 6 judges experts in psychology participated in the construction, and 416 Mexican adults participated (56 % women, 44 % men, age M = 39.43 years, SD = 12.56). Reliability was obtained through Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.906. The construct validity was confirmed through the factorial analysis of principal components with varimax rotation, from which 4 factors were obtained that explain 50.36% of the variance, with a KMO of 0.888, an X2 value of the Bartlett test of 4418.36 p < 0.001. The limitations of the study were those of a regionalization of the sample, so it is suggested to replicate the study with other populations. This scale showed good psychometric properties to measure the influence of emotions on the motivation of the intake.