The food neophobia scale (FNS): Exploration and confirmation of factor structure in a healthy Chinese sample

Abstract

Food neophobia, as a continuous personality trait, usually manifests in unwillingness to try, or even fear of trying unfamiliar food. The Food Neophobia Scale (FNS) is a measure designed to assess food neophobia. However, few studies have applied the FNS in a Chinese context. Therefore, this work aims to formulate and analyze a Chinese version of the FNS (FNS-C) using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with data gathered from a Chinese population. We examined the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the FNS-C by administering it to three samples, comprising a total of 1073 healthy Chinese college students. The first sample (N = 408) was used to examine the structure of the FNS for Chinese participants through EFA. The second sample (N = 615) was then used to verify the scale’s factor structure through CFA. Results of the EFA suggested a three-factor model (Willingness, Trust, and Pickiness), instead of the two-factor models identified in all previous studies. The CFA results confirm these findings in the second sample. The third sample (N = 50) was used to assess the test-retest reliability. The FNS-C was found to have good reliability (internal consistency and test-retest stability) and validity. In conclusion, the FNS has three factors among Chinese participants, and the FNS-C performs properly with Chinese college students.