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Using Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) To Examine the Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance of the Farsi Version of the Children’s Eating Attitudes Test (F-ChEAT) among Iranian Preadolescents Across Gender and Age

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Abstract

Despite considerable examination of the Children’s Eating Attitudes Test (ChEAT) in Western societies, there is no study about the ChEAT in Iran. The purpose of the current study was to translate and examine the factor structure and measurement invariance of the Farsi version of the ChEAT (F-ChEAT) among Iranian preadolescents. Iranian preadolescents (N = 717) completed the F-ChEAT and demographic information. Exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) was used to examine the factor structure and measurement invariance across gender and age. A 5-factor, 15-item ESEM model showed an excellent fit of the data. Tests of measurement invariance suggested that scores on the latent means could be meaningfully compared across gender and age. Girls had higher latent means on the Food Preoccupation and Caloric Awareness and Control factors, and older preadolescents had higher latent means on all the F-ChEAT factors, except for the Dieting factor. Findings suggest that a 5-factor, 15-item ESEM model of the F-ChEAT was a useful assessment tool to understand disordered eating symptoms in Iranian preadolescents.

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Notes

  1. Examples include: the Dutch language in Bulgaria [17], the French language in Canada [18], the Russian language in Belarus [23,24,], and in Croatia [51], Finland [19], Japan [24],Poland [26], Portugal [20], Spain [21, 22, 25], Sweden [54], and Brazil [62].

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Acknowledgements

We thank the preadolescents who participated in the study, as well as the teachers and principals of the schools.

Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Psychology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Reza N. Sahlan

  2. Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

    Kelsey N. Serier & Jane Ellen Smith

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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by RNS. Data analysis was performed by RNS and KNS. The first draft of the manuscript was written by RNS. All authors (RNS, KNS, JES) contributed to subsequent versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jane Ellen Smith.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

This study attained Institutional Review Board approval and complied with all ethical guidelines by the Iran University of Medical Sciences. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Parental consent was obtained for the preadolescents who were interested in the study, and informed consent was obtained from the individual participants as well.

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Appendix

Appendix

Items of the Children’s Eating Attitudes Test (ChEAT) in Farsi.

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Sahlan, R.N., Serier, K.N. & Smith, J.E. Using Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) To Examine the Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance of the Farsi Version of the Children’s Eating Attitudes Test (F-ChEAT) among Iranian Preadolescents Across Gender and Age. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-022-01466-w

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