Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Tomtebodavägen 18 A, SE-171 77, Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Exercise and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2021 Mar 19;21(1):540. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-10581-7.
Brief scales to measure parental self-efficacy (PSE) in relation to children's obesogenic behaviours have not been developed and validated using more rigorous methodology such as invariance testing, limiting their generalisability to sub-groups. This study aimed to assess the construct validity and measurement invariance of brief PSE scales for children's intake of vegetables, soft drinks, and sweets, and physical activity.
Parents (n = 242) of five-to-seven-year-old children in disadvantaged and culturally diverse settings in Sweden responded to a questionnaire in Swedish with 12 items assessing PSE in relation to healthy and unhealthy behaviours. Construct validity was assessed with confirmatory factor analysis, invariance testing compared the scales by groups of parental sex, education, and child weight status. Criterion validity was evaluated using objective measures of children's physical activity and semi-objective measures of diet.
Two-factor models showed moderate to excellent fit to the data. Invariance was supported across all groups for healthy behaviour scales. Unhealthy behaviour scales were invariant for all groups except parental education where partial metric invariance was supported. Scales were significantly correlated with physical activity and diet.
This study provides preliminary evidence for the validity of brief PSE scales and invariance across groups suggesting their utility for research and clinical management of weight-related behaviours.
用于衡量父母针对儿童致肥胖行为的自我效能感（PSE）的简短量表，尚未使用不变性测试等更严格的方法进行开发和验证，限制了其在亚组中的通用性。本研究旨在评估针对儿童蔬菜、软饮料和甜食摄入量以及身体活动的简短 PSE 量表的结构效度和测量不变性。
在瑞典处于不利地位和文化多元化环境中的五至七岁儿童的父母（n=242）用瑞典语回答了一份问卷，其中包含 12 个项目，用于评估与健康和不健康行为相关的 PSE。采用验证性因子分析评估结构效度，通过父母性别、教育程度和儿童体重状况等组别的量表比较进行不变性测试。使用儿童身体活动的客观测量和饮食的半客观测量来评估效标效度。
双因素模型显示数据具有中等至良好的拟合度。健康行为量表在所有组中均具有不变性。除了父母教育程度外，所有组的不健康行为量表都具有不变性，在该组中支持部分度量不变性。量表与身体活动和饮食显著相关。
本研究为简短 PSE 量表的有效性和组间不变性提供了初步证据，表明其在与体重相关行为的研究和临床管理中的实用性。
