Validating a Questionnaire to Measure Eating Patterns for Malnutrition Excess Risk among Mexican University Students

Abstract

Introduction. Eating patterns for malnutrition excess are a modifiable factor to prevent obesity. Thus, some researchers have developed questionnaires to measure these patterns. Although the prevalence of excess weight (overweight and obesity) is increasingly, no assessment tools to measure eating patterns in the university population have been developed in Mexico. Objective. We aim to analyze the psychometric properties of the Questionnaire on Eating Patterns for Malnutrition Excess Risk, (CARME for its Spanish acronym) among Mexican university students. Material and methods. An Instrumental case study was carried out. First, the questionnaire was culturally adapted. Subsequently, the pilot questionnaire was carried out among a sample of 34 individuals. This sample had the same characteristics as the final sample. Then, 467 Mexican university students aged between 18 and 29 were surveyed (M = 20.97; SD = 2.27). Results. After the first factorial analysis, 47.37% of the items showed factorial complexity, low factorial loads or significant factorial loads of factors other than the original, so the items were progressively eliminated. Therefore, a final structure of 15 items was obtained with factorial loads of adequate magnitude to their theoretical factors, which were factorially simple, good convergent internal validity and sufficient interfactorial correlations. The reliability of the construct and scores was appropriate for all cases, except for the uncontrolled feeding factor. Conclusions. With a much shorter version and with more empirical support than the original version, CARME maintained the four-dimensional factorial structure among the university student population.