Validation of a Shortened Version of the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire and Associations with BMI in a Clinical Sample of Latino Children

Abstract Objective To examine the validity of the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) through the associations of its 3 subscale scores (food responsiveness, slowness in eating, and satiety responsiveness) with body mass index (BMI). Design Cross-sectional study of baseline data from a clinic-based obesity prevention and control randomized controlled trial. Participants Latino pediatric patients (n = 295) aged 5–11 years from a federally qualified health center in San Diego County, CA, with BMI percentiles ranging from 75.5 to 99.0. Main Outcome Measure Child BMI-for-age percentile computed using the standardized program for the 2000 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts. Analysis Principal components analysis and multivariate linear regressions. Results Principal components analysis showed a factor structure relatively similar to that of the original 3 CEBQ subscales, with acceptable internal consistency and between-subscale correlations. Analyses demonstrated the validity of the 3 subscales: child BMI was positively associated with food responsiveness ( β  = .336; P  ≤ .001) and negatively associated with slowness in eating ( β  = −.209; P  ≤ .001) and satiety responsiveness ( β  = −.211; P  ≤ .001). Conclusions and Implications The 14-item CEBQ scale may be useful for assessing obesogenic eating behaviors of Latino children. Further study is needed to replicate these findings.