Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire in a sample of Taiwanese parents

Abstract

The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) appraises overeating styles that may contribute to weight gain in adults. The purpose of this analysis was to assess the psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the DEBQ (C-DEBQ) in a sample of parents of school-age children in Taiwan. The C-DEBQ encompassing three subscales that including emotional eating, external eating, and restrained eating. Each subscale's reliability was assessed with Cronbach's alpha internal consistency. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to validate the model fit. A total of 340 normal weight and overweight parents of school-age children from various geographical locations in Taiwan participated in the study. Each subscale, emotional, external, and restrained eating, displayed good-to-excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alphas: .94, .81, and .89, respectively). CFA showed that the three-factor solution had close goodness-of-fit to the data for supporting the factorial validity (x2=1239.03, df=488, p<.001, x2/df=2.54, root mean square error of approximation=.067, comparative fit index=.879, Tucker-Lewis index=.869). Findings suggest that the C-DEBQ is a psychometrically reliable and valid instrument with the potential to assess overeating styles in Taiwanese parents of school-age children. Replication studies with more age- and gender-diverse populations are needed to provide further evidence of construct validity for the Chinese version of the DEBQ.