Abstract
Brazil is undergoing a rapid nutrition transition with unfavorable effects on dietary healthiness. To counteract this trend, knowledge about individual drivers of consumption is needed that go beyond environmental factors. The Eating Motivation Survey represents a comprehensive measure of such individual drivers, assessing 15 eating motives, such as choosing food for health reasons or eating because of a good taste. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties and validity of a Brazilian Portuguese version of The Eating Motivation Survey. In total, 442 participants from the general adult population living in the state of São Paulo, Brazil filled in an online survey. Results showed that the model, including 15 motive factors and 45 items, had a reasonable model fit. Moreover, factor loadings and corrected item-scale correlations were generally good. Fourteen out of the 15 motive scales had a reliability above 0.60. Results also confirmed convergent validity. These results demonstrate that the Brazilian Portuguese version of The Eating Motivation Survey is generally reliable and valid to assess individual drivers of eating behavior in Brazil.
Highlights
Within the past few decades, Brazil has experienced a more than fourfold increase in obesity rates
Convergent validity was shown as, within each Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) scale, highest correlations were observed with the The Eating Motivation Survey (TEMS) scale that taps into a similar construct
Ten out of the 15 motive scales showed significant relationships with BMI. These results demonstrate that the Brazilian Portuguese version of TEMS is generally reliable and valid to assess individual drivers of eating behavior in Brazil
Summary
Within the past few decades, Brazil has experienced a more than fourfold increase in obesity rates. According to the World Health Organization (World Health Organization [WHO], 2019), obesity prevalence in adults increased from 5.2% in 1975 to 22.1% in 2016. The consumption of ultra-processed foods, which are relatively high in added sugar, saturated fat, sodium, and energy, has increased in Brazil from 18.7% of total calories purchased in 1987 to 29.6% in 2009 (Martins et al, 2013). To slow down these trends, an understanding of the drivers of eating behavior is crucial.
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