Measurement characteristics of diet-related psychosocial questionnaires among African-American parents and their 8- to 10-year-old daughters: results from the Girls' health Enrichment Multi-site Studies.
OBJECTIVE
This paper presents the reliability and validity of several diet-related psychosocial questionnaires.


METHODS
At baseline and 12 weeks follow-up, parents/caregivers of one hundred fifty 8- to 10-year-old African-American completed questionnaires on food preparation habits for their daughter, perceived home barriers to healthy eating, and fruit, juice, vegetable (FJV), low-fat and high-fat food availability. Girls completed a sweetened beverage preferences questionnaire and two 24-h dietary recalls to assess intake. Principal components analyses were conducted for two newly designed measures. Internal consistency was calculated and construct validity was assessed between the psychosocial scales and obesity-related dietary variables.


RESULTS
Low-fat and high-fat food preparation for daughters, and perceived home barriers to eating low-fat food and FJV subscales were derived from the new questionnaires. Internal consistency reliabilities were moderate (0.58) to substantial (0.80) across all new and existing scales. Test-retest reliabilities were moderate (0.44) to substantial (0.79). Girls' intake of fat as a percentage of energy was positively related to parental high-fat food preparation for daughters (P < 0.01) and negatively related to parental low-fat food preparation practices for daughters (P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Measures of family influences on FJV, fat, and sweetened beverage consumption were internally consistent with moderate to substantial stability. Scales for low-fat and high-fat food preparation practices for daughters achieved construct validity with fat consumption in the hypothesized direction. Family food preparation habits appear to be important targets for future interventions.
Cullen
Karen W
KW
Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030-2600, USA. kcullen@bcm.tmc.edu
Klesges
Lisa M
LM
Sherwood
Nancy E
NE
Baranowski
Tom
T
Beech
Bettina
B
Pratt
Charlotte
C
Zhou
Ainong
A
Rochon
James
J
D001741:Black or African American; D002648:Child; D003296:Cooking; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control; D010290:Parents; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States