Development and Validation of the Food Literacy BITE Scale for Elementary Schoolchildren
Open Access DepositedThe database search yielded more than 2000 results and 17 articles that met our inclusion criteria. We identified four dimensions of food literacy in children and adolescents
food systems and nutrition knowledge, confidence in everyday food skills, valuing shared food experiences, and purposeful engagement with food. The 20-item Food Literacy BITE (Building Informed, Thoughtful, Empowered Eaters) scale was then developed assuming equal weight for each of these dimensions. CFA analysis supported the hypothesized model with four first-order factors and a second-order food literacy factor and reduced the item number to 18. Composite reliability values indicated acceptable internal consistency, and measurement invariance testing showed consistent item interpretation across each of the known groups. Students from schools with four or more years of experiential food education programming had higher mean scores in the valuing shared food practices dimension compared with schools with new or no food education programming after controlling for between-school variance. Conclusions
This body of work aimed to clarify the conceptualization and measurement of food literacy in late childhood and adolescence and to develop and validate a measurement scale for use with upper elementary schoolchildren (ages 9-12). Methods
Food literacy is a multidimensional construct that encompasses the interrelated drivers of individuals’ food behaviors and empowers them to make informed food choices. The concept has become increasingly prominent in research and food education practice, but most conceptualization and measurement tools have been developed from work with adults and do not account for children’s developmental limitations and restricted agency over their food choices. Objectives
We conducted a scoping review of the peer-reviewed literature for articles focused on conceptualization and measurement of food literacy in older children and adolescents. We used inductive content analysis on the texts extracted from included articles to identify the dimensions for our child-centered framework. From this framework, we developed a preliminary measurement scale with indicators for each dimension that were developmentally appropriate for our target population. Scale development included two rounds of expert panel review (n = 10) to establish content validity and group cognitive interviews with elementary schoolchildren (n = 43) to assess clarity and comprehension. We then administered the scale to a test sample of 690 4th and 5th grade students from 10 elementary schools in Washington, DC and Kentucky. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models assessed structural validity, we evaluated internal consistency with composite reliability, and we examined consistency in latent variable assessment across grade, sex, and food education exposure through measurement invariance testing. We investigated group-level differences in food literacy using latent mean comparisons and evaluated associations between food literacy and food group consumption frequency using weighted regression. Results
Background
This work advances understanding of food literacy in late childhood and adolescence by clarifying its conceptual dimensions and introducing a validated child-centered measurement tool that is feasible to use in practice-based settings. Our findings support a comprehensive, developmentally appropriate approach to assessing food literacy in children and can contribute to deeper understanding of how each of these dimensions influence the development of dietary habits and patterns.
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