Introduction:

According to official records, 75.0% of Mexican women and 69.6% of Mexican men are obese or overweight, conditions that can develop chronic diseases. In that sense, habits are determinate factors for this prevalence, among those that significantly influence health are eating habits. Therefore, the aim of this work was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Self-Regulation Scale of Eating Habits to obtain a brief version.

Materials and methods:

An instrumental study was carried out with 442 Mexican adults (60% women; Mage= 32.486 years). In addition to the Self-Regulation of Eating Habits Scale, a sociodemographic data sheet was included. The evidence of validity was analyzed with an analytical-factorial approach by an exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM); as well reliability was estimated at the level of scores (alpha coefficient) and construct (omega coefficient).

Results:

The scale responds to an essentially one-dimensional structure, a short version of 8 items was obtained, which showed an adequate adjustment index, high factor loads, excellent reliability, and being invariant between men and women.

Conclusions:

The Self-Regulation of Eating Habits Scale presents a solid one-dimensional structure; its adequate reliability allows it’s to use at the level of basic and applied research. Also evaluates self-regulation in men and women in an equivalent way.

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