Evaluation of the reliability and internal consistency of the child eating behavior questionnaire (CEBQ) in spanish schoolchildren and its association with obesity.

Introduction: Certain behavioral traits increase the risk of obesity at early ages. Exploring patterns of eating behavior in schoolchildren using tools like the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) is crucial for obesity prevention and intervention. Before this study, the CEBQ had been validated in various languages, including Spanish, but only in preschool-aged children, despite its previous use in various studies in the Spanish language and population. The objective is to assess the reliability and internal consistency of the CEBQ questionnaire applied to a sample of Spanish schoolchildren and to explore the association between eating behavior assessed through the CEBQ and nutritional status based on BMI.

Methods: Parents or guardians of 283 Spanish schoolchildren aged 6-16 years completed the Spanish version of the CEBQ questionnaire. Factor analyses were conducted on all CEBQ items, and differences between genders and age groups were examined. Correlations between children's BMI Z-scores and eating behaviors were analyzed through linear regression.

Results: The factor analysis revealed that the CEBQ is suitable in its original structure of eight subscales translated into Spanish, demonstrating adequate reliability and acceptable correlations between subscales. Gender appears to have minimal influence on eating behavior. However, with increasing age, schoolchildren tend to eat more quickly and are less fussy about food (SE [slowness in eating] [p = 0.012] and FF [food fussiness] [p = 0.012] decrease). Positive associations were found between BMI Z-scores and all pro-eating dimension subscales, while negative associations were identified with all antieating dimension subscales (p < 0.05) except EUE (emotional undereating) (p = 0.106).

Conclusions: The CEBQ is a valid psychometric tool that can be reliably used to assess eating behavior characteristics in Spanish schoolchildren aged 6-16 years.