Development of a Survey that Assesses Intra‐and Inter‐Personal Weight‐Related Cognitions and Behaviors of Mothers of Young Children

Abstract

The purpose of this abstract is to describe the process used to develop and conduct a survey that comprehensively assesses mothers’ of young children intra‐ and interpersonal factors associated with weight‐related cognitions and behaviors, which currently is lacking in the literature. The following process was used: 1) systematic literature review to identify a broad array of associated constructs and existing instruments; 2) instrument comparison and categorization to identify overlap, gaps, and appropriateness for audience; 3) instrument analysis by 3 experts in health promotion to determine completeness of construct array, appropriateness to study purpose, content validity, and needed refinements; 4) published psychometric data was reviewed to evaluate instrument reliability and needed refinements, and factor analysis data examination was utilized to identify strategies for shortening instruments to decrease response burden while preserving instrument integrity; 5) for extensively refined instruments and de novo items, appraisal by 5 experts in health promotion and/or psychometrics was conducted for content validity vis‐à‐vis purported construct measured, participant burden, overall utility, and appropriateness for the study sample and purpose; 6) iterative cognitive testing and refinement of substantially modified or de novo items to ascertain accurate interpretation by and acceptability to the target audience; 7) online survey construction using best practices to retain participant concentration level, minimize participant burden, and promote accurate, rapid completion; 8) pilot‐test survey with a convenience sample (n=48) of mothers of preschool children to establish completion time and evaluate participant satisfaction with survey experience; 9) survey refinement to improve flow and functioning; and 10) survey administration to a nationally representative sample of mothers of young children (n=550). Intrapersonal characteristics assessed include maternal demographics (e.g., education, marital status, race/ethnicity), pregnancy history and health, body satisfaction, maternal psychographics (e.g., self control, need for cognition, stress management, family support), maternal behaviors (e.g., physical activity, media equipment use, sleep), maternal eating characteristics (e.g., dietary restraint, eating adventurousness), child demographics (e.g., race/ethnicity, health), child eating characteristics (e.g., self regulation, emotional eating, neophobia), and child behaviors (e.g., physical activity, media equipment use, nighttime sleep and nap durations). Interpersonal characteristics included food security, family affluence, household organization and family functioning, family meal frequency and environments, and parent feeding practices. Survey completion time averaged 60 minutes, and participants highly rated the survey experience (4.5 on a scale of 1–5 for overall ease and enjoyment). Cronbach alpha coefficients examining internal consistency of survey instruments ranged from fair to excellent (0.68–0.95). In future work, these instruments will be used to assess outcomes of an obesity prevention intervention.Support or Funding InformationUSDA NIFA #2011‐68001‐30170