Abstract
Given the lack of scales with a robust psychometric assessment of self-efficacy related to obesity in early adolescence, we aimed to obtain an instrument with high-quality validity and reliability items. Nonrandom samples (N = 2371) classified boys (1174, M = 12.83, SD = 0.84) and girls (1197, M = 12.68, SD = 0.78) from Mexico City and some cities of the Mexican Republic with obesity rates near to the national level mean. A multi-validity process and structural invariance analysis using the Perceived Self-efficacy Scale for Obesity Prevention were performed. A two-factor—physical activity and healthy eating—model with high effect-sized values—girls R2 (0.88, p < 0.01) and boys R2 (0.87, p < 0.01)—were obtained. Each factor explained more than half of the variance with high-reliability coefficients in each group and acceptable adjustment rates. The self-efficacy scale proved to have only girls, an invariant factor structure, or a psychometric equivalence between the groups. The obtained scale showed that a two-factor structure is feasible and appropriate, according to the highest quality of validity and reliability.
Highlights
Obesity, an modern-day health problem, is present globally and has been identified as the pandemic of our century [1]
Since the t-test showed significant differences between boys’ and girls’ responses to the Perceived Self-Efficacy for Obesity Prevention Scale (PSOP), the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was applied to each boy (n = 586) and girl (n = 614) after analyzing their relevance using the Kaiser- Meyer -Olkin (KMO) value and the significant Bartlett sphericity test
Our study’s final product was an instrument (PSOP) with proven validity data whose bifactorial structure was supported by substantive statistical models directly related to obesity prevention
Summary
An modern-day health problem, is present globally (in developed, developing, and undeveloped countries) and has been identified as the pandemic of our century [1]. The problem of malnutrition/obesity in emerging countries such as Mexico has become even more complex, because it persists as a food problem of poverty [3] and, at the same time, as an eating disorder (Anorexia Nervosa/Binge Eating) called “of abundance”. These last eating disorders are qualitatively different from the traditional ones derived from poverty and extreme poverty [3,4,5,6]; they represent the same high cost for the socioeconomic development of the countries that suffer from them. The increase was 6%, from 14.5% to 15.1%
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