title: Screening for pickiness - a validation study.
abstract: Picky eating is prevalent in childhood and is associated with negative health outcomes. Therefore early detection of pickiness is pertinent. Because no psychometric measure of picky/fussy eating has been validated, we aimed to examine the screening efficiency of the 6-item 'Food Fussiness' (FF) scale from the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire using structured psychiatric interviews (the Preschool Age Psychiatric Interview), providing meaningful cut-off values based on a large, representative sample of Norwegian 6 year olds (n = 752). Screening efficiency was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, revealing excellent discrimination. The cut-point maximizing the sum of sensitivity and specificity for the scale was found at a score of 3.33 for severe cases and 3.00 when both moderate and severe pickiness were included. The results suggest that the FF scale may provide a tool for identification of clinically significant picky eating, although further assessment may be needed to separate moderate from severe cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Social Science, Dragvoll, 7491, Trondheim, Norway. Silje.Steinsbekk@svt.ntnu.no.
authors.forename: Silje
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3306-6642
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Steinsbekk
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Social Science, Dragvoll, 7491, Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Trude Hamre
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Sveen
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fildes
authors.affiliation: Health Behaviour Research Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
authors.forename: Clare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Llewellyn
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Social Science, Dragvoll, 7491, Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wichstrøm
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004435:Eating; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*
keywords: Fussiness; Picky eating; Questionnaire; Screening; Validation