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Construct validity of a short 12‐item tool to asses eating identity

People with healthy eating identities (EI) are more likely to report healthy dietary behaviors, but other dimensions of EI may also influence dietary behavior. A 12‐item tool was developed to assess affinity with four dimensions of EI, that we label healthy, meat, picky, and emotional. The objective of this study was to assess construct validity of this tool. We conducted a telephone survey with adults in SC as part of a larger study on perceptions of food environments and dietary behaviors; 855 completed the 12‐item tool and NCI screener to assess fruit and vegetable (F&V) servings, grams of fiber and % energy from fat. Composite scores were calculated by summing the 3 items for each EI dimension and adjusted GLM was used to assess score and diet relationships. Healthy scores were associated positively with fiber (.32;p<.0001), and F&V (.20;p<.0001), and inversely with fat (−.35;p<.0001). Emotional scores were positively associated with fat (.16;p<.01). Meat scores were associated positively with fat (.52;p<.0001), and inversely with fiber (−.15; p<.05), and F&V (−.12; p<.0001). Picky scores were associated inversely with fiber (−.21;p<.0001) and F&V (−.12;p<.0001). The EI composite scores demonstrated significant and plausible relationships with dietary intake. This short EI tool can be applied in etiologic research exploring dietary behavior and development of interventions. Funded by NCI R21CA132133‐02S1.