Table 1.

Description of Survey Measures Included on the Project EAT Wave 1–4 Surveys

Measure	Survey items or descriptiona
High fast food intake	Frequency of fast food intake was assessed with the question: In the past week, how often did you eat something from a fast food restaurant (like McDonald’s, Burger King, etc.)? Response categories included never, 1– 2 times, 3–4 times, 5–6 times, 7 times, and more than 7 times. High intake was defined by a response of three or more times per week (test- retest agreement=86%).
Low moderate-to- vigorous physical activity (MVPA)	Hours of physical activity during a typical week was assessed using questions adapted from the widely used Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire.62,63 Survey items assessed individually strenuous (for example, jogging, swimming laps, basketball) and moderate activity (for example, walking quickly, easy bicycling, snowboarding) in a typical week, with several examples of each level of activity provided; item wording was identical at each wave but some of the team sport examples were dropped for surveys administered after participants had transitioned to adulthood. Response options were none, less than ½ hour, ½ hour to 2 hours, 2½ to 4 hours, 4½ to 6 hours, and 6 or more hours. Each response was assigned a midpoint value and responses were then summed to compute total weekly hours (Test-retest reliability r =0.84). Low levels of MVPA was defined as less than 150 minutes per week.
Use of any unhealthy weight control practices	Use of any unhealthy weight control practices was assessed with the question: Have you done any of the following things in order to lose weight or keep from gaining weight during the past year? Participants were asked to respond yes/no for each of nine specific practices (e.g., fasted, ate very little food, took diet pills, made myself vomit, used laxatives). Scores were dichotomized to none or ≥1 method (test-retest agreement=86%).
High body dissatisfaction	Body dissatisfaction was assessed using a modified version of the Body Shape Satisfaction Scale.64 Participants rated their satisfaction with 10 different body parts (height, weight, body shape, waist, hips, thighs, stomach, face, body build, shoulders) using a 5-point Likert scale (range: 10–50, Cronbach’s α=0.92, test-retest r =0.82). High dissatisfaction was defined by a score of <30.
Obesity	Self-reported height and weight were found to be highly correlated with measured values collected at Time 1 (BMI males r =0.88 and females r =0.8558; and Time 3 (BMI males r =0.95 and females r =0.9859,65; and were used to calculate BMI at each time point (test-retest height r =0.98, weight r =0.97). For Wave 1 and Wave 2, obesity status was determined based on a BMI at or above the 95th percentile for sex and age.66,67 For Wave 3 and Wave 4, obesity was defined according to current BMI guidelines for adults (overweight: BMI ≥30 kg/m2).68

^aPsychometrics for survey items were assessed at all four study waves; values included here are for Project EAT-IV. Scale psychometric properties were assessed in the full EAT-IV survey sample and estimates of item test-retest reliability were determined in a subgroup of 103 participants who completed the EAT-IV survey twice within a period of 1 to 4 weeks.

Project EAT, Project Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults