Development and reproducibility of a food frequency questionnaire to assess diets of older children and adolescents.

OBJECTIVE To develop a self-administered food frequency questionnaire for older children and adolescents and to demonstrate reproducibility over a 1-year period. DESIGN The youth/adolescent questionnaire (YAQ) was based on the validated Nurses' Health Study food frequency questionnaire and was developed to reflect the eating habits of this age group. SUBJECTS The multiethnic sample consisted of 179 youths (ages 9 to 18 years) who completed the questionnaire twice, 1 year apart. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated on nutrient data adjusted in relation to energy intake and on unadjusted food data. RESULTS Reproducibility for nutrients ranged from .26 for protein and iron to .58 for calcium, and for foods it ranged from .39 for meats to .57 for soda. Mean reproducibility was higher among girls than boys for energy and nutrients and for foods; no consistent pattern was observed for age. CONCLUSION A self-administered food frequency questionnaire has a reasonable ability to assess the eating habits of older children and adolescents over time.

[1]  G. Berenson,et al.  Dietary studies in children: cardiovascular disease prevention: the Bogalusa Heart Study. , 1991, Comprehensive therapy.

[2]  R. M. Jenkins,et al.  Adolescent snacks: nutrient density and nutritional contribution to total intake. , 1987, Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

[3]  P. Corey,et al.  Sources of variance in 24-hour dietary recall data: implications for nutrition study design and interpretation. , 1979, The American journal of clinical nutrition.

[4]  T. Baranowski,et al.  Fruit and vegetable food frequencies by fourth and fifth grade students: validity and reliability. , 1994, Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

[5]  H. Kemper,et al.  Longitudinal changes in nutritional habits of teenagers: differences in intake between schooldays and weekend days , 1987, British Journal of Nutrition.

[6]  G A Colditz,et al.  Reproducibility and validity of an expanded self-administered semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire among male health professionals. , 1992, American journal of epidemiology.

[7]  J. Croft,et al.  Macronutrient intakes of 10-year-old children, 1973 to 1982. , 1986, Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

[8]  R. Suskind,et al.  Textbook of pediatric nutrition , 1981 .

[9]  M. Story,et al.  Child nutrition: objectives for the decade. , 1991, Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

[10]  G. Dahlquist,et al.  Validity of a Questionnaire Measuring Food Frequency Compared to a 7‐Day Record , 1989, Acta paediatrica Scandinavica.

[11]  G. Berenson,et al.  A food frequency questionnaire for adolescents: defining eating patterns. , 1992, Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

[12]  S. Hui,et al.  Nutrient intake variability in a pediatric population: implications for study design. , 1991, The Journal of nutrition.

[13]  W. Willett,et al.  Reproducibility and validity of a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. , 1985, American journal of epidemiology.

[14]  B. Spear,et al.  Adolescent growth and development: Implications for nutritional needs , 1988 .

[15]  R. Vandongen,et al.  A comparison of methods of dietary assessment in Australian children aged 11-12 years. , 1989, European journal of clinical nutrition.

[16]  A. Paul,et al.  McCance and Widdowson's 'The composition of foods': dietary fibre in egg, meat and fish dishes. , 1979, Journal of human nutrition.

[17]  P. Gergen,et al.  Dietary patterns of U.S. children: implications for disease prevention. , 1990, Preventive medicine.