Confirmatory factor analysis of the Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire in a Chinese urban preschooler sample

Abstract

Background: Understanding young children's eating behaviours is vital to childhood obesity prevention. However, the widely used Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ) has not been validated in Chinese young children. Thus, the present study aimed to assess the validity of the CEBQ in a Chinese urban sample of preschool children. Methods: Participants included 389 mothers with preschool children residing in Beijing, China. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted, and measurement invariance between child genders was evaluated. Results: The modified 8-factor structure of the CEBQ exhibited acceptable model fit in our sample, and no measurement bias against any gender was observed. The associations between the CEBQ factors and child age showed that desire to drink, emotional overeating, and emotional undereating significantly decreased with age, but food responsiveness increased with age. The relation between child BMI and the CEBQ factors provided convergent validity for the CEBQ. Conclusions: Our study supported the validity of the CEBQ as a measurement tool for examining preschool children's eating behaviours in a Chinese urban sample.