Mindful Eating Questionnaire for Children: Validation and Reliability in Turkish Children

Objectives This study aims to adapt the Mindful Eating Questionnaire for Children (MEQ-C) to Turkish and test its validity and reliability. Methods A total of 227 children (118 boys, 109 girls, aged 8-11 years) participated in the study. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using surveys that contained the MEQ-C, Emotional Eating Scale Adapted for Use in Children and Adolescents (EES-C), and the Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied for categorical data. For the evaluation of external construct validity, Spearman's correlation coefficient was calculated between MEQ-C scores and EES-C and CEBQ. Reliability was examined in terms of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Results A confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that the 12-item Turkish version of the MEQ-C measures two underlying factors (Mindless eating and Awareness). The fit indices were found to be acceptable. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was found to be 0.82 for the Mindless eating subscale, while it was found to be 0.80 for the Awareness. The test-retest reliability was 0.78 for the Mindless eating and 0.75 for the Awareness. Also, the total contribution of two factors to the variance was 51.70%. The Mindless eating subscale had significant positive correlations both with the EES-C and its subscales and with the CEBQ scale, and the Awareness subscale had statistically significant negative correlations with Food Responsiveness and Emotional Undereating subscales. Conclusions The two subscales (Mindless eating and Awareness) are valid and reliable tools for measuring mindful eating in Turkish children.