title: Internal Structure and Measurement Invariance of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) in a (Nearly) Representative Dutch Community Sample.
abstract: The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire is a widely used instrument for assessment of emotional, external and restrained eating. The aim of the present study is to (i) analyse its internal structure using exploratory structural equation modelling; (ii) to assess its measurement invariance with respect to sex, BMI, age and level of education; and (iii) to evaluate the relations of the factors with these variables. Except that women were slightly over-represented, the sample (n = 2173) closely followed the sociodemographic characteristics of the overall Dutch population. The three theoretical factors that emerged from the analysis were in close correspondence with the three scales for emotional, external and restrained eating. Only two items (item 3 - 'desire to eat when nothing to do…' and item 21 - 'resist delicious food...') presented problematic loadings. The questionnaire showed satisfactory measurement invariance, and expected patterns of mean differences and relations were found. All in all, the results highlight the adequate psychometric properties of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain. barrada@unizar.es.
authors.forename: Juan Ramón
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6887-6277
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Barrada
authors.affiliation: Institute for Gender Studies and Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, The Netherlands.|Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Institute of Health Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: van Strien
authors.affiliation: Universitat de València, Spain.|CIBER Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CB06/03), Instituto Carlos III, Spain.
authors.forename: Ausiàs
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cebolla
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004644:Emotions; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009426:Netherlands; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*
keywords: DEBQ; ESEM; eating styles; measurement invariance; psychometrics