• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.629-647
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• 2020

Purpose: This study was undertaken to develop a nutrition quotient for elementary school children (NQ-C) for evaluating the overall dietary quality and eating behaviors. Methods: The NQ-C was developed by implementing 3 stages: item generation, item reduction, and validation. Candidate food behavior checklist (FBC) items of the NQ-C were derived from systematic literature reviews, expert in-depth interviews, statistical analyses of the fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, and national nutrition policies and recommendations. For the pilot survey, 260 elementary school students (128 second graders and 132 fifth graders) completed self-administered questionnaires as well as 24-hour dietary intakes, with the help of their parents and survey team staff, if required. Based on the pilot survey results, expert reviews, and priorities of national nutrition policy and recommendations, checklist items were reduced from 41 to 24. A total of 20 items for NQ-C were finally selected from results generated from 1,144 nationwide samples surveyed. Construct validity of the NQ-C was assessed using the confirmatory factor analysis, LInear Structural RELations. Results: Analyses of the exploratory factors of NQ-C identified that 5 dimensions of diet (balance, diversity, moderation, practice and environment) accounted for 46.2% of the total variance. Standardized path coefficients were used as weights of the items. The NQ-C and 5-factor scores of the subjects were calculated using the obtained weights of the FBC items. Conclusion: Our data indicates that NQ-C is a useful and suitable instrument for assessing nutrition adequacy, dietary quality, and eating behaviors of Korean elementary school children.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.247-263
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• 2023

Purpose: This study was conducted to update the Nutrition Quotient for Adolescents (NQ-A), which is used to assess the overall dietary quality and food behavior among Korean adolescents. Methods: The first 30 candidate items of the measurable eating behavior checklist were obtained based on a previous NQ-A checklist, the results of the seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey data, national nutrition policies and dietary guidelines, and literature reviews. A total of 100 middle and high school students residing in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province participated in a pilot study using the 25-item checklist. Factor analysis and frequency analysis were conducted to determine if the checklist items were organized properly and whether the responses to each item were distributed adequately, respectively. As a result, 22 checklist items were selected for the nationwide survey, which was applied to 1,000 adolescent subjects with stratified sampling from 6 metropolitan cities. The construct validity of the updated NQ-A 2021 was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. Results: Twenty checklist items were determined for the final NQ-A 2021. The items were composed of three factors: balance (8 items), moderation (9 items), and practice (3 items). The standardized path coefficients were used as the weights of items to determine the nutrition quotients. NQ-A 2021 and 3-factor scores were calculated according to the weights of questionnaire items. The weight for each of the 3 factors was determined as follows: balance, 0.15; moderation, 0.30; and practice, 0.55. Conclusion: The updated NQ-A 2021 is a useful instrument for easily and quickly evaluating the dietary qualities and eating behaviors of Korean adolescents.