Analysis of the Inter-Scale Agreement of Questionnaires to Assess the Emotional Eating in a Population of Polish Girls: PLACE-19 Study

<b>Background/Objectives</b>: Emotional eating is a tendency to increase food consumption in order to modify a negative emotional state, but little is known about this phenomenon or about the way to assess it. The aim of the study was to assess the emotional eating in the population of Polish girls using various questionnaires, in order to compare the results obtained while using various tools. <b>Methods</b>: The emotional eating was assessed in a sample of <i>n</i> = 771 girls (age 15-18 years) from a nationwide PLACE-19 Study population, recruited based on a random quota sampling of Polish secondary schools. The results were gathered within the Computer-Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) and compared for four tools: Emotional Eating Scale for Children and adolescents (EES-C), Emotional Eating Subscale (EE-3) of Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ), Emotional Overeating Questionnaire (EOQ-5), and Emotional Eater Questionnaire (EEQ). <b>Results</b>: The analysis of correlation revealed statistically significant association for comparison of all the questionnaires (<i>p</i> < 0.001). For a comparison of EE-3 and EOQ-5, the strongest correlation between the results, and the second highest share of the studied group presenting agreement in emotional eating category was stated, indicating the strongest agreement. For a comparison of EES-C and EOQ-5, as well as EES-C and EEQ, the weakest correlation between the results, and the lowest share of the studied group presenting agreement in emotional eating category was stated, indicating the weakest agreement. <b>Conclusions</b>: It may be suggested that in studies conducted in a group of girls the recommended approach would be to use at least two various questionnaires to assess emotional eating, to enable comparing results, as the knowledge gathered so far does not allow an indication of the most reliable tool. As there is only a fair agreement between compared tools, the arbitrary choice of one tool may significantly influence the formulated conclusions. Moreover, there is a need to conduct more studies assessing emotional eating while using various questionnaire methods, in order to compare the results obtained while using various tools and to indicate the most reliable questionnaires.