Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Psychometric characteristics of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-18 and eating behavior in undergraduate students

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To assess the psychometric characteristics of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-18 (TFEQ-18) and to estimate the prevalence of cognitive restraint (CRes), uncontrolled eating (UE), and emotional eating (EE) among Brazilian undergraduate students.

Methods

A total of 775 students completed TFEQ-18 (62.1% females; total mean age = 20.9 years [SD = 2.8]; females mean age: 20.8 years [SD = 2.8]; males mean age: 21.2 years [SD = 2.7]). Total sample was randomly separated in test/validation samples. An assessment of psychometric characteristics was conducted to each subsample with confirmatory factor analysis considering the indices: chi-square per degree of freedom ratio (χ2/df), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Tucker–Lewis Index (TLI), and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA). The mean score of each TFEQ-18 factor was estimated. The prevalence of CRes, UE, and EE was calculated with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) and compared by sex and weight status.

Results

The psychometric characteristics of the TFEQ-18 were adequate in both samples (test/validation: χ2/df = 3.58/2.86; CFI = 0.938/0.958; TLI = 0.928/0.951; RMSEA = 0.081/0.069). The prevalence of students with moderate to exacerbated scores of CRes, UE, and EE was 34.4% (95%CI  31.1–37.7%), 35.6% (95%CI 32.2–39.0%), and 43.1% (95%CI 39.6–46.6%), respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in prevalence according to sex or weight status.

Conclusions

The TFEQ-18 presented adequate psychometric characteristics and indicated a high prevalence of CRes, UE, and EE among the students. This research emphasizes the importance of investigating aspects of eating behavior to best direct clinical and educational strategies for reducing the risk of adopting unhealthy eating behaviors among undergraduate students.

Level of evidence

Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Alvarenga M (2015) Fundamentos teóricos sobre análise e mudança de comportamento. In: Alvarenga M, Figueiredo M, Timerman F, Antonaccio C (eds) Nutrição Comportamental, vol 1. Manole, Barueri, São Paulo, Brasil, p 16

    Google Scholar 

  2. Cambraia RPB (2004) Aspectos psicobiológicos do comportamento alimentar. Rev Nutr 17(2):217–225. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1415-52732004000200008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Quaioti TCB, Almeida SS (2006) Determinantes psicobiológicos do comportamento alimentar: uma ênfase em fatores ambientais que contribuem para a obesidade. Psicol USP 17(4):193–211. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0103-65642006000400011

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. WHO (1998) Health Promotion Glossary. Disponível em https://www.who.int/healthpromotion/about/HPR%20Glossary%201998.pdf

  5. Association AP (2014) Manual Diagnóstico e Estatístico de Transtornos Mentais (DSM-5)

  6. Alvarenga M, Koritar P (2015) Atitude e comportamento alimentar – determinantes de escolhas e consumo. In: Alvarenga M, Figueiredo M, Timerman F, Antonaccio C (eds) Nutrição Comportamental, vol 1. Manole, Barueri, São Paulo, Brasil, p 64

    Google Scholar 

  7. Caran LG, Santana DD, Monteiro LS, Veiga GV (2018) Disordered eating behaviors and energy and nutrient intake in a regional sample of Brazilian adolescents from public schools. Eat Weight Disord 23:825–832. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-018-0519-9

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Allison DB, Kalinsky LB, Gorman BS (1992) A comparison of the psychometric properties of three measures of dietary restraint. Psychol Assess 4(3):391–398. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.4.3.391

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. French SA, Jeffery RW, Wing RR (1994) Food intake and physical activity: A comparison of three measures of dieting. Addict Behav 19(4):401–409. https://doi.org/10.1016/0306-4603(94)90063-9

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Lauzon B, Romon M, Deschamps V, Lafay L, Borys J, Karlsson J, Ducimetière P, Charles MA (2004) The Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18 is able to distinguish among different eating patterns in a general population. J Nutr 134:2372–2380. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/134.9.2372

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Stunkard AJ, Messick S (1985) The three-factor eating questionnaire to measure dietary restraint. Disinhibition Hunger J Psychosom Res 29(1):71–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-3999(85)90010-8

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Karlsson J, Persson L-O, Sjöström L, Sullivan M (2000) Psychometric properties and factor structure of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) in obese men and women. Results from the Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) study. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 24:1715–1725. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0801442

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Herman CP, Mack D (1975) Restrained and unrestrained eating. J Pers 43:647–660. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1975.tb00727.x

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Van Strien T, Frijters JER, Bergers GPA, Defares PB (1986) The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) for assessment of restrained, emotional and external eating behavior. Int J Eat Disord 5:295–315. https://doi.org/10.1002/1098-108X(198602)5:2%3c295:AID-EAT2260050209%3e3.0.CO;2-T

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Tholin S, Rasmussen F, Tynelius P, Karlsson J (2005) Genetic and environmental influences on eating behavior: the Swedish Young Male Twins Study. Am J Clin Nutr 81:564–569. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/81.3.564

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Cappelleri JC, Bushmakin AG, Gerber RA, Leidy NK, Sexton CC, Lowe MR, Karlsson J (2009) Psychometric analysis of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R21: results from a large diverse sample of obese and non-obese participants. Int J Obes (Lond) 33:611–620. https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2009.74

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Kavazidou E, Proios M, Liolios I, Doganis G, Petrou K, Tsatsoulis A, Tsiligiroglou-Fachantidou A (2012) Structure validity of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18 in Greek population. J Hum Sport Exerc 7(1):218–226. https://doi.org/10.4100/jhse.2012.71.01

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Brytek-Matera A, Rogoza R, Czepczor-Bernat K (2017) The Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18 Polish version: factor structure analysis among normal weight and obese adult women. Arch Psychiatr Psychother 3:81–90. https://doi.org/10.12740/APP/76342

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Jáuregui-Lobera I, García-Cruz P, Carbonero-Carreño R, Magallares A, Ruiz-Prieto I (2014) Psychometric Properties of Spanish Version of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18 (TFEQ-SP) and its relationship with some eating- and body image-related variables. Nutrients 6:5619–5635. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu6125619

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Marôco J (2014) Análise de equações estruturais, 2ndª edn. Report Number, Pêro Pinheiro

    Google Scholar 

  21. Chearskul S, Pummoung S, Vongsaiyat S, Janyachailert P, Phattharayuttawat S (2015) Thai version of Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire. Appetite 54:410–413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2010.01.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Zambrowicz R, Schebendach J, Sysko R, Mayer LES, Walsh BT, Steinglass JE (2019) Relationship between three factor eating questionnairerestraint subscale and food intake. Int J Eat Disord. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.23014

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Medeiros ACQ, Yamamoto ME, Pedrosa LFC, Hutz CS (2017) The Brazilian version of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire - R21: psychometric evaluation and scoring pattern. Eat Weight Disord 22(1):169–175. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-016-0256-x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Sepulveda AR, Carrobles JA, Gandarilhas AM (2008) Gender, school and academic year differences among Spanish university students at high-risk for developing an eating disorder: an epidemiologic study. BMC Public Health 8:102. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-8-102

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  25. León-Vázquez CD, Rivera-Márquez JA, Bojorquez-Chapela I, Unikel-Santoncini C (2017) Variables associated with disordered eating behaviors among freshman students from Mexico City. Salud Publica Mex 59(3):258–265. https://doi.org/10.21149/8000

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Rocks T, Pelly F, Slater G, Martin LA (2017) Eating attitudes and behaviours of students enrolled in undergraduate nutrition and dietetics degrees. Nutr Diet 74:381–387. https://doi.org/10.1111/1747-0080.12298

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Natacci LC, Ferreira Júnior M (2011) The three factor eating questionnaire - R21: tradução para o português e aplicação em mulheres brasileiras. Rev Nutr 24(3):383–394. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1415-52732011000300002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Hair JF Jr, Anderson RE, Tatham RL, Black WC (2005) Multivariate data analysis, 6th edn. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River

    Google Scholar 

  29. Silva WR, Dias JCR, Maroco J, Campos JADB (2014) Confirmatory factor analysis of different versions of the Body Shape Questionnaire applied to Brazilian university students. Body Image 11:384–390. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2014.06.001

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Silva WR, Marôco J, Ochner CN, Campos JADB (2017) Male body dissatisfaction scale (MBDS): proposal for a reduced model. Eat Weight Disord 22:515–525. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-017-0420-y

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. ABEP (2018) Brazilian Economic Classification Criteria (Brazilian Criteria). https://www.abep.org/criterio-brasil. Accessed May 2018

  32. WHO (2000) Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic. World Health Organization: WHO: Technical Report Series, Geneva

  33. Guillemin F, Bombardier C, Beaton DE (1993) Cross-cultural adaptation of health-related quality of life measures:literature review and proposed guidelines. J Clin Epidemiol 46(12):1417–1432. https://doi.org/10.1016/0895-4356(93)90142-N

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Beaton DE, Bombardier C, Guillemin F, Ferraz MB (2000) Guidelines for the process of cross-cultural adaptation of self-report measures. Spine 25(24):3186–3191. https://doi.org/10.1097/00007632-200012150-00014

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Kaplan RM, Saccuzzo DP (2012) Psychological testing. Principles, applications and issues, vol 8. Wadsworth Cengage Learning, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  36. Fornell C, Larcker DF (1981) Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. J Mark Res 18(1):39–50. https://doi.org/10.2307/3151312?uid=3737664&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21103223270061

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Rossel Y (2012) An R package for structural equation modeling. J Stat Softw 48(2):1–36. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v048.i02

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Jorgensen TD, Pornprasertmanit S, Schoemann AM, Rosseel Y (2018) semTools: useful tools for structural equation modeling. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=semTools

  39. Bryant EJ, King NA, Blundell JE (2008) Disinhibition: its effects on appetite and weight regulation. Obes Rev 9(5):409–419. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-789X.2007.00426.x

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Duarte PAS, Palmeira L, Pinto-Gouveia J (2018) The Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R21: a confrmatory factor analysis in a Portuguese sample. Eat Weight Disord. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-018-0561-7

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001. Also, the authors would like to acknowledge the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) for providing financial support (Grants #2017/18679-0, #2017/21149-3).

Funding

São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP): Grants: #2017/18679-0; #2017/21149-3.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food and Nutrition, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Araraquara, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Rodovia Araraquara-Jaú, km 01., Araraquara, São Paulo, 14800-903, Brazil

    Bianca Gonzalez Martins, Wanderson Roberto da Silva & Juliana Alvares Duarte Bonini Campos

  2. William James Center for Research (WJCR), Instituto Universitário de Ciências Psicológicas, Sociais e da Vida, Rua Jardim Do Tabaco, 34, 1149-041, Lisbon, Portugal

    João Maroco

Authors
  1. Bianca Gonzalez Martins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Wanderson Roberto da Silva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. João Maroco
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Juliana Alvares Duarte Bonini Campos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juliana Alvares Duarte Bonini Campos.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in this study were approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences of UNESP (CAAE: 63553516.4.0000.5426) and in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Martins, B.G., da Silva, W.R., Maroco, J. et al. Psychometric characteristics of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-18 and eating behavior in undergraduate students. Eat Weight Disord 26, 525–536 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-020-00885-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-020-00885-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation