Reliability and validity of a healthy diet determinants questionnaire for adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the development of a short questionnaire including a wide range of personal, social and environmental constructs in relation to a healthy diet in an adolescent population.


METHODS
The questionnaire was developed based on the literature, past experiences and feedback from a small pilot study (n 10). Test and retest (2 weeks later) of the questionnaire was done to investigate test-retest reliability. Data of four non-consecutive 24 h recalls were collected to investigate the predictive validity with food (fruit, vegetables, milk, snacks, soft drinks), nutrient (fibre, ascorbic acid, Ca, percentage energy from fat) and energy intakes.


METHODS
At home, in the presence of a student.


METHODS
Convenience sample of fifty-five Belgian-Flemish adolescents approached by university students for course credits.


RESULTS
Test-retest correlations of the constructs ranged between 0.51 and 0.78. Eleven of the eighteen final constructs were significantly associated with one or more of the five selected food items, all in the expected direction. Most significant associations with the food items were found for taste, perceived peers' behaviour and availability of soft drinks at home. Fresh fruit and soft drinks were correlated with most constructs (seven) followed by snacks (five). Concerning energy and the selected nutrient variables, the findings were less clear.


CONCLUSIONS
The results are promising: the test-retest stability was moderate to good; most of the psychosocial constructs were significantly associated with one or more of the selected dietary variables. Future work in a larger sample of European adolescents is warranted.
Vereecken
Carine
C
Department of Public Health, Gent University, De Pintelaan 185, 900 Ghent, Belgium. Carine.Vereecken@UGent.be
De Henauw
Stefaan
S
Maes
Lea
L
Moreno
Luis
L
Manios
Yannis
Y
Phillipp
Katharina
K
Plada
Maria
M
De Bourdeaudhuij
Ilse
I
D000293:Adolescent; D001530:Belgium; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015930:Diet Records; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012944:Social Support; D012984:Software; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055697:Taste Perception