Reliability and validity study of parental feeding style questionnaire

Aim: We aimed to confirm the validity and internal reliability of Parental Feeding Style Questionnaire (PFSQ) which was a parent-report measure and was designed to assess variations in parent's feeding styles. Material and Method: For this cross sectional study, PFSQ was translated to Turkish and conducted among parents of both preschool students and patients who applied to the pediatric outpatient clinic. 468 of 650 responded questionnaires were examined for factor structure. The data were analyzed by PASW ver. 18 and SPSS program. Results: The questionnaire was conducted among parents of 243 boys and 225 girls, the mean age was 5.84 +/- 1.28 Reliability coefficients (Cronbach Alphas) of subscales ranged from 0.54 to 0.83 Factor structure, internal reliability and subscale correlations were similar to original PFSQ. Conclusions: Evidence for associations between parental feeding style and subsequent weight trajectory of children needs to be established through longitudinal follow-up studies. Given the dramatic increase in obesity that has been observed in recent years, and particularly the increase in childhood obesity, investment in research in the development of obesity in childhood should be given a high priority. (Turk Arch Ped 2010; 45: 124-31)