The German Version of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties, Measurement Invariance, and Population-Based Norms

The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire is an internationally widely used instrument assessing different eating styles that may contribute to weight gain and overweight: emotional eating, external eating, and restraint. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the 30-item German version of the DEBQ including its measurement invariance across gender, age, and BMI-status in a representative German population sample. Furthermore, we examined the distribution of eating styles in the general population and provide population-based norms for DEBQ scales. A representative sample of the German general population (N = 2513, age ≥ 14 years) was assessed with the German version of the DEBQ along with information on sociodemographic characteristics and body weight and height. The German version of the DEQB demonstrates good item characteristics and reliability (restraint: α = .92, emotional eating: α = .94, external eating: α = .89). The 3-factor structure of the DEBQ could be replicated in exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and results of multi-group confirmatory factor analyses supported its metric and scalar measurement invariance across gender, age, and BMI-status. External eating was the most prevalent eating style in the German general population. Women scored higher on emotional and restrained eating scales than men, and overweight individuals scored higher in all three eating styles compared to normal weight individuals. Small differences across age were found for external eating. Norms were provided according to gender, age, and BMI-status. Our findings suggest that the German version of the DEBQ has good reliability and construct validity, and is suitable to reliably measure eating styles across age, gender, and BMI-status. Furthermore, the results demonstrate a considerable variation of eating styles across gender and BMI-status.

荷兰饮食行为问卷（Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire，DEBQ）是国际上广泛应用的评估工具，用于量化可能引发体重增加与超重的三类饮食模式：情绪性进食、外部性进食与限制性进食。本研究旨在评估30条目版德国版DEBQ的心理测量学特性，包括其在具有代表性的德国人群样本中跨性别、年龄与BMI分组的测量恒常性。此外，本研究考察了德国普通人群中各类饮食模式的分布情况，并为DEBQ各分量表提供基于人群的常模数据。研究纳入具有代表性的德国普通人群样本（N=2513，年龄≥14岁），采用德国版DEBQ开展评估，并收集了受试者的社会人口学特征、体重与身高相关信息。结果显示，德国版DEBQ具备良好的条目特性与信度：限制性进食分量表克朗巴赫α系数为0.92，情绪性进食分量表为0.94，外部性进食分量表为0.89。探索性因子分析与验证性因子分析均成功复现了DEBQ的三因子结构；多组验证性因子分析结果支持其在性别、年龄与BMI分组上的度量恒常性与标量恒常性。外部性进食是德国普通人群中最为普遍的饮食模式。女性在情绪性进食与限制性进食分量表上的得分显著高于男性，超重人群在三类饮食模式上的得分均高于体重正常人群。年龄因素仅对外部性进食存在较小影响。本研究依据性别、年龄与BMI分组提供了DEBQ的人群常模数据。本研究结果表明，德国版DEBQ具备良好的信度与结构效度，可可靠地用于跨年龄、性别与BMI分组的饮食模式评估。此外，本研究结果证实不同性别与BMI分组人群的饮食模式存在显著差异。