Eating Behaviour in the General Population: An Analysis of the Factor Structure of the German Version of the Three-Factor-Eating-Questionnaire (TFEQ) and Its Association with the Body Mass Index

Abstract

The Three-Factor-Eating-Questionnaire (TFEQ) is an established instrument to assess eating behaviour. Analysis of the TFEQ-factor structure was based on selected, convenient and clinical samples so far. Aims of this study were (I) to analyse the factor structure of the German version of the TFEQ and (II)—based on the refined factor structure—to examine the association between eating behaviour and the body mass index (BMI) in a general population sample of 3,144 middle-aged and older participants (40–79 years) of the ongoing population based cohort study of the Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases (LIFE Health Study). The factor structure was examined in a split-half analysis with both explorative and confirmatory factor analysis. Associations between TFEQ-scores and BMI values were tested with multiple regression analyses controlled for age, gender, and education. We found a three factor solution for the TFEQ with an ‘uncontrolled eating’, a ‘cognitive restraint’ and an ‘emotional eating’ domain including 29 of the original 51 TFEQ-items. Scores of the ‘uncontrolled eating domain’ showed the strongest correlation with BMI values (partial r = 0.26). Subjects with scores above the median in both ‘uncontrolled eating’ and ‘emotional eating’ showed the highest BMI values (mean = 29.41 kg/m²), subjects with scores below the median in all three domains showed the lowest BMI values (mean = 25.68 kg/m²; F = 72.074, p<0.001). Our findings suggest that the TFEQ is suitable to identify subjects with specific patterns of eating behaviour that are associated with higher BMI values. Such information may help health care professionals to develop and implement more tailored interventions for overweight and obese individuals.

The Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18 Polish version: factor structure analysis among normal weight and obese adult women

“…There is a high probability that due to strong stigmatization and alienation, individuals with obesity are faced with negative emotions and cope by engaging in (emotional) eating [55][56][57][58]. Determinants of BMI can also be configured in various styles of eating: cognitive restraint (vs. unrestrained), uncontrolled eating (vs. controlled) and emotional eating (vs. unemotional) [30,59,60].…”

“…The TFEQ was adapted to Swedish [5], French [27], Finnish [4], Greek [28], Malay [29], Spanish [16] and German [30].…”

Comparison of anthropometrical parameters and dietary habits of young women with and without menstrual disorders

“…The same authors also pointed out that insulin resistance may interfere with the operation of the hunger and satiety centre, and could contribute to the development of a type of disinhibition . This relationship has been demonstrated by Löffler et al ., from which it is clear that an elevated BMI is strongly correlated with disinhibition. This may be the cause of the differences observed in the present study where, in the case of women with menstrual disorders—who were characterised by higher average body weights, higher BMI, larger waist circumference and greater body fat—disinhibition was seen more often.…”

“…The women were assigned to one of two age groups. The first contained respondents aged [15][16][17][18], while the second contained those aged [19][20][21][22][23][24][25].…”

Determinants of self-regulation in obesity: formation of implicit food preferences

“…We also did not try to validate one of the existing questionnaires, e.g. the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) (Löffler et al, 2015). The results of our studies shall be treated with special prudency.…”