The Pediatric Eating Assessment Tool (PediEAT): Factor structure and psychometric properties.

Objectives: The Pediatric Eating Assessment Tool (PediEAT) is a parent-report instrument developed to assess symptoms of feeding problems in children aged 6 months to 7 years. The purpose of this study was to identify the factor structure of the PediEAT and test its psychometric properties, including internal consistency reliability, temporal stability, and construct validity. Methods: Participants included 567 parents of children aged 6 months to 7 years. Fifty-four percent of the sample had parent report of a diagnosed feeding problem or feeding concerns. Exploratory factor-analysis techniques were used to remove redundant or non-endorsed items and identify the factor structure of the instrument. Construct validity was examined with 466 parents completing the Mealtime Behavior Questionnaire (MBQ) as a criterion standard. Known-groups validation was used to compare PediEAT scores between children with and without diagnosed feeding problems. Temporal stability of the PediEAT was examined with 97 parents repeating the PediEAT after 2 weeks. Results: Principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation supported a 4-factor model accounting for 39.4% of the total variance. The four subscales (Physiologic Symptoms, Problematic Mealtime Behaviors, Selective/Restrictive Eating, Oral Processing) demonstrated acceptable internal consistencies (coefficient alphas: .92, .91, .83, .83; respectively). Construct validity was supported in two ways. The PediEAT correlated with the MBQ (r = .77, p

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