Table 3.
Factor structure of the food-related practices items of the Child-care Food and Activity Parenting Questionnaire (CFAPQ), percentage of variance accounted for by each factor and reliability estimates
| Food-related practices items | F-MON | F-MOD/ENC | F-INV/ENV | F-TN | F-PE | F-CC | F-ER/FR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How much do you keep track of the sweets that the children eat (for example, candy, ice cream, cookies)? | 0·92 | ||||||
| How much do you keep track of the snack food that the children eat (for example, salty crackers, potato chips, cheese puffs)? | 0·94 | ||||||
| How much do you keep track of the high-fat foods that the children eat (for example, cheese, sausage, cookies)? | 0·90 | ||||||
| How much do you keep track of the sugary drinks that the children drink (for example, lemonade, chocolate milk, fruit drink)? | 0·89 | ||||||
| I model healthy eating for the children by eating healthy foods myself | 0·72 | ||||||
| I try to eat healthy foods in front of the children, even if they are not my favourite | 0·66 | ||||||
| I try to show enthusiasm about eating healthy foods | 0·82 | ||||||
| I show the children how much I enjoy eating healthy foods | 0·81 | ||||||
| I encourage the children to try new foods | 0·26† | 0·63 | |||||
| I tell the children that healthy food tastes good | 0·47 | 0·57 | |||||
| I encourage the children to eat a variety of foods | 0·64 | −0·31 | |||||
| I allow the children to help prepare meals (for example, set the table, prepare sandwiches, etc.) | 0·49 | ||||||
| Most of the food at the child-care centre is healthy | 0·62 | ||||||
| There are a lot of snack foods present in the child-care centre (for example, crackers, potato chips, cheese puffs). R | 0·68 | ||||||
| A variety of healthy foods are available to the children at each meal served at the child-care centre | 0·77 | ||||||
| There are a lot of sweets present at the child-care centre (for example, cookies, candy, ice cream). R | 0·69 | ||||||
| I discuss with the children why it’s important to eat healthy foods | 0·50 | 0·62 | |||||
| I discuss with the children the nutritional value of foods | 0·49 | 0·33 | |||||
| I tell the children what to eat and what not to eat without explanation. R | 0·66 | ||||||
| The children should always eat all of the food on their plate | 0·63 | ||||||
| If a child says ‘I’m not hungry’, I try to get him/her to eat anyway | 0·66 | ||||||
| If a child eats only a small helping, I try to get him/her to eat more | 0·65 | ||||||
| When a child says that he/she is finished eating, I try to get the child to eat another bite of food | 0·63 | ||||||
| Do you let the children eat whatever they want? | 0·68 | ||||||
| At meals, do you let the children choose the foods they want from what is served (for example, choose the bread toppings during lunch)? | 0·43 | 0·49 | −0·33 | ||||
| If the children don’t like the food that is being served, do you make something else? | 0·66 | ||||||
| Do you allow the children to eat snacks whenever they want? | 0·59 | ||||||
| Do you allow the children to leave the table when they are full, even when the other children are not done eating? | −0·52 | 0·20 † | |||||
| When a child gets fussy, is giving him/her something to eat the first thing you do? | 0·30 | 0·56 | |||||
| Do you give a child something to eat or drink if s/he is upset, even if you think s/he is not hungry? | 0·69 | ||||||
| I offer sweets to the children as a reward for good behaviour (for example, cookies, candy, ice cream) | −0·32 | −0·39 | 0·34 | ||||
| I withhold sweets from the children in response to bad behaviour | 0·60 | ||||||
| I offer the children their favourite foods in exchange for good behaviour | −0·63 | 0·32 | 0·33 | ||||
| Percentage of variance accounted for | 16·68 | 10·19 | 9·02 | 6·55 | 5·71 | 4·96 | 4·23 |
| Cronbach’s α coefficient | 0·96 | 0·82 | 0·67 | 0·53 | 0·64 | 0·54 | 0·56 |
| Average corrected item–total correlation (for each scale) | 0·89 | 0·57 | 0·42 | 0·36 | 0·42 | 0·30 | 0·34 |
| Range corrected item–total correlation (for the items of each scale) | 0·86–0·91 | 0·37–0·70 | 0·17–0·58 | 0·19–0·51 | 0·40–0·43 | 0·23–0·40 | 0·14–0·49 |
| Mean | 4·20 | 4·26 | 4·40 | 3·55 | 2·81 | 2·49 | 1·29 |
| sd | 0·93 | 0·62 | 0·60 | 0·78 | 0·79 | 0·55 | 0·40 |
n 111. Factors are labelled as follows: F-MON, food-related Monitoring; F-MOD/ENC, food-related Modelling/Encourage balance and variety; F-INV/ENV, food-related Involvement/Environment; F-TN, food-related Teaching about nutrition; F-PE, food-related Pressure to eat; F-CC, food-related Child control; F-ER/FR, food-related Emotion regulation/Food as reward. Only factor loadings higher than the absolute value of 0·30 are reported. Sample size used to measure internal consistency estimates: F-MON, n 125; F-MOD/ENC, n 158; F-INV/ENV, n 159; F-TN, n 158; F-PE, n 159; F-CC, n 140; F-ER/FR, n 155. The following item was not included in the factor analyses, but retained as a single item: ‘Do you encourage the children to eat healthy foods before unhealthy ones?’ (mean=4·28, sd=1·19). R=reverse coded. Bold values represent the final factor structure.
Although the factor loading was below 0·30, it is depicted in the table and on theoretical grounds the item has provisionally been retained on this factor.