Parental feeding practices in families with children aged 2-13 years: Psychometric properties and child age-specific norms of the German version of the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ)

The Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) is a self-report questionnaire for assessing parental attitudes to child weight and parental feeding practices. Previous evaluations of its psychometric properties were conducted primarily with small to medium-sized samples (N < 500) and a small range of children's age. The present study aims to analyze the psychometric properties of the CFQ in a large German community sample and, for the first time, to establish normative data. Within the population-based LIFE Child study, the CFQ was administered to N = 982 mothers of 2- to 13-year-old children. Psychometric analyses on item statistics and internal consistency were conducted. Using structural equation modeling, four empirically-based factorial models of the CFQ were evaluated, and measurement invariance across child age groups and sex was examined. Age-specific norms for the CFQ subscales were computed. Item statistics were highly favorable for the majority of items, but floor and ceiling effects were found for 14 of 31 items. Internal consistency of the CFQ subscales ranged from acceptable to excellent (0.71 ≤ α ≤ 0.91), except for the subscale Perceived Responsibility (α = 0.65). Regarding factorial validity, an eight-factor model with the newly created Reward subscale provided the best fit to the data. This model was factorial invariant across child sex and adjacent age groups. Maternal and child weight status showed large effects on CFQ subscale scores. The analyses established good psychometric properties for the German version of the CFQ and confirmed an eight-factor model. The provided norms allow for the comparison of individual parental feeding practices and change over time. The CFQ's sensitivity to change and longitudinal associations of parental feeding practices and child weight status warrant further research.