The Children's Eating Behavior Inventory (CEBI): Validation, and application in a cross-cultural context

Background Parents’ reports are frequently utilized to evaluate children with eating difficulties. To forecast a child's eating pattern, information on feeding skills is crucial. The Children's Eating Behavior Inventory (CEBI) is a valuable questionnaire addressing child-parent behavior during mealtimes. Objective This study intended to validate the Greek version of CEBI by the Greek Cypriot parents, of preschool and school-aged populations with or without feeding difficulties. Methods 100 Greek Cypriot parents of children with typical eating behaviors (c-teb) and 100 parents of children with non-typical eating behaviors (c-nteb) participated in this study. All participants completed the Greek-translated version of the CEBI questionnaire. RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were found between the c-teb and the c-nteb groups [t (198) = −1.628 p < 0.005] for the CEBI total score. The instrument has strong internal consistency with Cronbach-a 0.854, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.843–0.859), strong test-retest reliability (r = 0.999, p < 0.001), and good external criterion validity [MCH-FS (r = −0.712, p < .001) and the AYCE r = −0.660, p < .001)]. The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis estimated a cut-off = 83.00 (sensitivity of 0.870 and a 1-specificity of 0.250) with Area Under the Curve, AUC = 0.848, (95% CI: 0.792–0.905), p < 0.001. Conclusions The Greek CEBI revealed excellent sensitivity, reliability, and clinical validity, which can support healthcare providers in Greek Cypriot settings.