A food frequency questionnaire for youth: psychometric analysis and summary of eating habits in adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the reliability and validity of the Eating Habits Questionnaire (EHQ) for adolescents and assess eating habits in the context of the Food Pyramid.


METHODS
Subjects were 446 students (81.2% female) attending three middle schools (sixth to eighth grades). Over half (56.9%) were African-American. Reliability was assessed with 48-h and 2-week retests on two subsamples (n = 62) and validity was assessed by comparison with three 24-h recalls on an additional subsample (n = 24) and by factor analysis. The EHQ is a self-administered questionnaire consisting of 83 food items and questions assessing food habits and food preparation style.


RESULTS
Internal validity, determined with factor analysis, found that 10 factors explained 81.3% of the variance in eating habits. Overall perfect agreement between food groups reported on the 24-h recall and on the EHQ was 56%. Internal consistency, assessed by Cronbach alpha, ranged from .60 to .89. Test-retest correlations were highest at 48 h, ranging from .46 to .85 for the 10 factors. Adolescents ate more servings of fats and sugars (11.2) and meats (6.0) and fewer breads (5.2) and vegetables (1.6) than recommended in Food Pyramid guidelines. In addition, subjects consumed more high-fat protein than low-fat protein servings.


CONCLUSIONS
The EHQ is a valid and reliable food frequency questionnaire that has been tested with African-American and white adolescents in the Southeast. It showed that adolescents consume higher than recommended daily servings of fats, sweets, and meats and lower than recommended servings of vegetables and breads.
Speck
B J
BJ
School of Nursing, Health Sciences Center, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
Bradley
C B
CB
Harrell
J S
JS
Belyea
M J
MJ
D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004034:Diet Surveys; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009657:North Carolina; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data