Confirmatory factor analysis of the Infant Feeding Styles Questionnaire in Latino families

Charles T Wood; Krista M Perreira; Eliana M Perrin; H Shonna Yin; Russell L Rothman; Lee M Sanders; Alan M Delamater; Margaret E Bentley; Andrea B Bronaugh; Amanda L Thompson

doi:10.1016/j.appet.2016.02.018

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Infant Feeding Styles Questionnaire in Latino families

Appetite. 2016 May 1:100:118-25. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2016.02.018. Epub 2016 Feb 11.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. Electronic address: charles_wood@med.unc.edu.
² Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
³ Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine/Bellevue Hospital Center, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
⁵ Center for Health Services Research, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
⁶ Department of Pediatrics, Center for Policy, Outcomes and Prevention, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁷ Department of Pediatrics, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.

Abstract

Background: Parent feeding practices affect risk of obesity in children. Latino children are at higher risk of obesity than the general population, yet valid measure of feeding practices, one of which is the Infant Feeding Styles Questionnaire (IFSQ), have not been formally validated in Spanish.

Objective: To validate the IFSQ among Latino families, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis of pressuring, restrictive, and responsive feeding constructs from the IFSQ.

Design/methods: The IFSQ was administered at the 12-month visit in the Greenlight study, a multi-center cluster randomized trial to prevent obesity. Parents were included if they were of Latino origin (n = 303) and completed an English or Spanish language modified IFSQ (without the indulgence construct). Scores from nine sub-constructs of the IFSQ were compared between English and Spanish language versions. We tested reliability with Cronbach's alpha coefficients and performed confirmatory factor analysis to examine factor loadings and goodness of fit characteristics, modifying constructs to achieve best fit.

Results: Of 303 parents completing the IFSQ, 84% were born outside the US, and 74% completed the IFSQ in Spanish. Reliability coefficients ranged from 0.28 to 0.61 for the laissez-faire sub-constructs and from 0.58 to 0.83 for the pressuring, restrictive, and responsive sub-constructs. Results for all coefficients were similar between participants responding to an English and Spanish version of the IFSQ. Goodness of fit indices ranged from CFI 0.82-1 and RMSEA 0.00-0.31, and the model performed best in pressuring-soothing (CFI 1.0, RMSEA 0.00) and restrictive-amount (CFI 0.98, RMSEA 0.1) sub-constructs.

Conclusions: In a sample of Latino families, pressuring, restrictive, and responsive constructs performed well. The modified IFSQ in both English and Spanish-speaking Latino families may be used to assess parenting behaviors related to early obesity risk in this at-risk population.

Keywords: Confirmatory factor analysis; Feeding styles; Infant feeding; Latino.

Publication types

Multicenter Study
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
Validation Study

MeSH terms

Caregivers
Diet, Healthy* / ethnology
Emigrants and Immigrants
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Family / ethnology
Feeding Methods*
Female
Hispanic or Latino
Humans
Infant
Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena* / ethnology
Language
Male
Nutrition Assessment*
Nutrition Surveys
Parenting* / ethnology
Parents
Patient Compliance* / ethnology
United States

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding