Objective:

Mexico is one of the countries with the highest prevalence of childhood obesity worldwide. Valid comprehensive assessment instruments are required to address the problem. The Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire(CEBQ) allows the assessment of children's eating behaviors related to obesity risk, so the following objective was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the original version of the CEBQ in Mexican children aged 1 to 3 years.

Material and Methods:

201 mothers residing in northeastern Mexico completed the CEBQ in community health centers. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed through principal components and reliability (internal consistency) with Cronbach's alpha (α).

Results:

A model with seven factors and 24 items was identified, the goodness-of-fit indices of the proposed model were adequate: comparative fit index (CFI=0.90), and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA= 0.06). The factors that make up the CEBQ have acceptable internal reliability α > 0.70.

Conclusion:

The CEBQ in Mexican children aged 1 to 3 years has psychometric properties that make it a reliable and valid measure to assess eating behaviors related to obesity risk. It is recommended to contrast this model in similar populations.

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