1. Introduction
obesity, eating behavior, eating behaviors, Eating Behaviors, ’s eating behavior, disordered eating, diabetes, cancer
OBESITY, CHRONIC DISEASES
These authors contributed equally for this paper and should be considered co-first authors.Self-efficacy has a strong influence on children’s eating behavior. Feeling capable of regulating one’s eating behavior is especially relevant in situations of activation while facing temptations or experiencing negative emotions. Despite the relevance, there is no validated measure to assess children’s self-efficacy to regulate eating behaviors in these domains. The present study examines the psychometric properties of the Self-Efficacy to Regulate Eating Behaviors Scale for Children based on a sample of 724 elementary school children in Portugal. The sample was split randomly into two groups, and a principal component analysis with Group 1 and a confirmatory factor analysis with Group 2 were carried out. The scale comprises two distinct but related factors—self-efficacy to regulate eating behaviors in activation and temptation situations and self-efficacy to regulate eating behaviors in negative emotional situations. Moreover, self-efficacy to regulate eating behaviors was positively and statistically related to self-regulation processes toward healthy eating, declarative knowledge about healthy eating, and attitudes and perceptions toward healthy eating. The present study provides preliminary evidence that the Self-Efficacy to Regulate Eating Behaviors Scale for Children is valid and reliable for evaluating children’s self-efficacy in regulating their eating behaviors.Healthy eating behavior is considered a public health priority for preventing chronic diseases (e.g., obesity, diabetes, cancer) across all ages [In recent years, the literature has highlighted the relevance of motivational-related factors in children’s adoption and maintenance of healthy eating behaviors [Considering the importance of self-efficacy for children adopting and maintaining healthy eating, there is a lack of validated and children-focused measures of self-efficacy for healthy eating behaviors. Self-efficacy measures in the eating behavior domain for the general population are scarce and target mainly disordered eating and obesity [As previously mentioned, currently, there is a lack of validated scales assessing children’s self-efficacy to regulate eating behaviors, explicitly targeting the contextual factors related to these behaviors [The present study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Self-Efficacy to Regulate Eating Behaviors scale for Children (SEREB-C). This scale focused on two dimensions likely to challenge children’s healthy food choices: activation and temptation situations and negative emotional situations [