# Psychometric properties and factor structure of the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire in a Danish sample of children with overweight and obesity

## TL;DR

This study translated and validated the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire for Danish children with overweight and obesity, confirming its eight-factor structure and reliability.

## Contribution

The study provides a validated Danish version of the CEBQ and confirms its psychometric properties in children with overweight and obesity.

## Key findings

- The Danish CEBQ confirmed an eight-factor model with significant item loadings.
- Internal reliability was acceptable for most subscales but moderate for Satiety Responsiveness and Emotional Undereating.
- No significant differences in eating behaviors were found between children with overweight and obesity.

## Abstract

The Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) is a reliable and widely used tool to assess eating behavior traits in children. However, currently no Danish version of the CEBQ exists. This study aimed to translate the CEBQ into Danish and investigate its psychometric properties and factor structure in children with overweight and obesity. Secondly, differences in eating behavior traits between children with overweight and obesity were explored.

Children (7–14 years) were recruited from a 10-week multicomponent lifestyle camp. Parents completed the CEBQ with their child before camp, and anthropometry was measured. CEBQ is scored from 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating a higher tendency toward a specific behavior. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to test the original eight-factor structure. Internal reliability was assessed using McDonald’s Omega.

In total, 190 children (12.3 ± 1.36 years) participated. The CFA confirmed the eight-factor model, with all items loading significantly on their respective factors. Internal reliability was acceptable for the full CEBQ scale (ω = 0.85) and most subscales (ω ≥ 0.70) but only moderate for Satiety Responsiveness (ω = 0.59) and Emotional Undereating (ω = 0.65). No statistically significant difference was found between children with overweight and obesity according to the Bonferroni-adjusted alpha.

The Danish CEBQ is a valid tool to assess eating behavior traits in Danish children with overweight and obesity; although, generalizability may be limited due to a relatively small sample size. Future studies should further validate the Danish CEBQ by assessing test–retest reliability, construct validity, and factor structure in a generalizable sample across weight categories.

Level V, Cross-sectional, Psychometric study.