Measures assessing appetitive traits (i.e., individual differences in the desire to consume food) and disordered eating have generally been developed in predominantly food-secure populations. The current study aims to test measurement invariance (MI) for a measure of appetitive traits and a measure of Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) symptomology across food security status. Data from a sample of mothers (n = 634) and two undergraduate samples (n = 945 and n = 442) were used to assess MI for the Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire (AEBQ), which measures appetitive traits, and the Nine Item ARFID Screen (NIAS), which measures ARFID symptomology. Current food security was assessed using the 18-item USDA Household Food Security Survey Module, which was dichotomized into two groups: 1) the ‘food insecure’ group included marginal, low, and very low food security and 2) the ‘food secure’ group included high food security. Overall and multi-group confirmatory factor analyses were conducted separately for each measure in each sample. Results demonstrated scalar (i.e., strong) MI for both measures across samples, indicating that these measures performed equivalently across food-secure and food-insecure individuals. Findings suggest that differences in appetitive traits by food security status observed in prior research are not artifacts of measurement differences, but instead reflect true differences. Additionally, past mixed results regarding the relationship between food insecurity (FI) and ARFID symptomology are not likely driven by measurement error when using the NIAS.

中文翻译：

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通过食品安全状况检查食欲特征和 ARFID 症状测量的测量不变性

评估食欲特征（即消费食物欲望的个体差异）和饮食失调的措施通常是在主要粮食安全人群中制定的。目前的研究旨在测试整个食品安全状态中食欲特征测量的测量不变性（MI）和回避性限制性食物摄入障碍（ARFID）症状的测量。使用来自母亲样本 (n = 634) 和两个大学生样本 (n = 945 和 n = 442) 的数据来评估成人饮食行为问卷 (AEBQ)（测量食欲特征）和九项 ARFID 筛查的 MI (NIAS)，用于测量 ARFID 症状。当前的粮食安全是使用包含 18 项的美国农业部家庭粮食安全调查模块进行评估的，该模块分为两组：1）“粮食不安全”组包括边缘、低和极低粮食安全；2）“粮食安全”组该组包括高度粮食安全。对每个样本中的每项措施分别进行总体和多组验证性因素分析。结果表明，样本中的两项措施均具有标量（即强）MI，表明这些措施在粮食安全和粮食不安全的个人中表现相同。研究结果表明，先前研究中观察到的粮食安全状况引起的食欲特征差异并不是测量差异的产物，而是反映了真实的差异。此外，过去关于粮食不安全 (FI) 和 ARFID 症状学之间关系的混合结果不太可能是由使用 NIAS 时的测量误差驱动的。