ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health and Nutrition
This article is part of the Research TopicComparative Perspectives and Translational Models in Eating Behavior: Insights from Animal Models and Human StudiesView all articles
Psychometric Evaluation of the Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire and Its Relationship with Body Mass Index Among Chinese University Students: A Cross-Sectional Validation Study
Provisionally accepted
- Southeast University, Nanjing, China
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Background: Eating behavior critically impacts human health and the development of obesity. This study aimed to validate the Adult Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (AEBQ) among Chinese university students and explore the relationship between appetitive traits and body mass index (BMI). Methods: A total of 546 students from Southeast University completed the Chinese version of the AEBQ and self-reported anthropometric data. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test the factor structure and evaluate model fit, and Spearman’s correlation assessed relationships between appetitive traits and BMI. Results: The original 8-factor, 35-item model showed a good fit, which improved further after removing the Hunger subscale. All subscales demonstrated strong reliability (α and ω>0.70). Females exhibited higher scores in Enjoyment of Food, Emotional Over-eating, Food Responsiveness, and Satiety Responsiveness than males (p<0.05). Food approach traits (except for Hunger) were positively correlated with BMI (p<0.05), whereas food avoidance traits (except for Food Fussiness) were negatively correlated (p<0.05). Conclusion: The AEBQ is a reliable and valid psychological measurement for assessing appetitive traits in Chinese adults and conducting large-scale studies. Interventions targeting appetite traits provide new insights into weight management and obesity prevention.
Keywords: Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire (AEBQ), Body mass index (BMI), Chinese university students, Appetitive traits, Obesity
Received: 23 Aug 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yan, Shah, Yang, Pan and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Guiju Sun, gjsun@seu.edu.cn
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