Support for a brief version of the Night Eating Questionnaire: exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in a U.S. veteran sample

The Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ) was developed to evaluate symptom severity for night eating syndrome—a historically under-studied eating disorder primarily characterized by evening hyperphagia and/or nocturnal awakenings. Given limited prior psychometric investigations of this measure, the present study aimed to evaluate NEQ factor structure, reliability, and convergent validity. Exploratory (n = 202) and confirmatory factor analyses (n = 203) were completed using a random split-sample approach in a U.S. veteran sample. The original 13-item first- and second-order four-factor models could not be replicated. A two-factor six-item model (NEQ-6) demonstrated good fit, inclusive of evening hyperphagia and sleep factors. Adequate fit for a partial bifactor model suggested support for a global factor and a specific evening hyperphagia factor. The NEQ-6 also demonstrated adequate internal consistency and high correlations with global eating pathology, binge eating, insomnia, and depression. Morning anorexia and mood disturbance items did not share common variance with other items, suggesting that these constructs may not be as prominent in night eating presentations for veterans; however, results need to be replicated in larger clinical samples. Additional research is needed to better understand lived experiences of veterans with night eating syndrome to inform valid and reliable measurement in this population. Support for a briefer NEQ version has important research and clinical implications in both veteran and general populations and should be further evaluated.