Development and validation of child’s food texture preference questionnaire and associations with oral tactile sensitivity and food fussiness in children

Abstract

This study aimed to 1) develop a parent-reported child’s food texture preference questionnaire, 2) assess content validity and inter-rater reliability among parent-, child-report and the child report after tasting and 3) validate the questionnaire with oral tactile acuity and food fussiness in 5 to 12-year-old Australian children. Parents rated their child’s preference for 29 pairs of foods selected as they were different in texture but similar in other sensory attributes. A subset of these food pairs (10 pairs) was used for child reported preference and preference after tasting (4 pairs). Content validity was rated by 7 experts and expressed as the content validation index for items. Grating orientation task was used to measure oral tactile sensitivity. Parents reported fussiness on the Children’s Eating Behavior Questionnaire fussiness subscale. A total of 154 caregivers and 251 children (129 boys, 122 girls) participated. Content validation resulted in the elimination of 9 items. Child-rated texture preference was positively correlated with preference after tasting (r = 0.55) and parent-reported scores (r = 0.31). A moderate positive correlation was found between preference after tasting and parent reported scores (r = 0.20). Child's food texture preference was positively associated with child’s age (p < 0.05) but not correlated with measured oral tactile sensitivity or food fussiness. This is the first study to evaluate content validity and inter-rater reliability of parent-report child’s food texture preference measure. There still remains opportunities for improvements of both food texture preference measure and oral tactile sensitivity.