Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire: validation of a new measure of parental feeding practices.

OBJECTIVE

Measures of parents' feeding practices have focused primarily on parental control of feeding and have not sufficiently measured other potentially important practices. The current study validates a new measure of feeding practices, the Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire (CFPQ).

METHOD

The first study validated a 9-factor feeding practice scale for mothers and fathers. In the second study, open-ended questions solicited feeding practices from parents to develop a more comprehensive measure of parental feeding. The third study validated an expanded 12-factor feeding practices measure with mothers of children from 2 to 8 years of age.

RESULTS

The CFPQ appears to be an adequate tool for measuring the feeding practices of parents of young children.

CONCLUSIONS

Researchers, clinicians, and health educators might use this measure to better understand how parents feed their children, the factors that contribute to these practices, and the implications of these practices on children's eating behaviors.