The Validation of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18 Among Black and Black Multi-Ethnic Female University Students in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica

This study examined the construct validity of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire Revised-18 (TFEQ-R18), an eating behavior instrument designed to measure Uncontrolled Eating, Emotional Eating, and Cognitive Restraint, in a sample of Black and Black multi-ethnic Caribbean female university students. Four hundred thirty-five female participants aged 18–59 consented to complete self-administered questionnaires, including TFEQ-R18, sociocultural, body image, height, and weight (BMI). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFAs/CFAs) were used to examine the TFEQ-R18 structure. EFA indicated that a 13-item version is psychometrically sound, where the three-factor solution accounted for 57.37% of the variance observed. A CFA of the retained model in the second split-half sample (n = 218) resulted in a good fit (χ²/df = 2.10, CFI = .92, TLI = .91, RMSEA = .07 [95 % CI = .06, .09], SRMR = .08) and was found to be invariant across ethnic groups. Internal consistency coefficients ranged between .72 and .83 in both randomly generated subsamples, and convergent validity was supported. An abbreviated TFEQ (13-items) is a psychometrically valid measure to evaluate eating behaviors among this sample.