Psychometric evaluation of the Persian version of adult food preferences questionnaire (FPQ-Adult)

Background Preferences for consuming food items as determinants of food choices are significantly associated with diet and health-related outcomes in adulthood. Objective The aim of the present study was to culturally adapt and investigate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the food preferences questionnaire (FPQ-Adult) among Iranian adults. Methods This methodological cross-sectional study was conducted among 522 Persian-speaking adults, living in Isfahan, Iran. Translation of the FPQ was performed using forward-backward method. Intra Class Correlation (ICC) and Cronbach's α were used to assess test-retest reliability and internal consistency, respectively. Construct validity was investigated by using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Known-group validity was assessed by using independent samples t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Convergent validity was determined using correlation analysis. Results The internal and test-retest reliabilities for the FPQ-Adult were in the range of moderate to excellent in all domains (ICCs: 0.62-0.93 and Cronbach's α: 0.54-0.90). Construct validity led to extraction of nine factors ("Fruit", "Vegetables", "Snacks", "Cereals- based dishes", "Rice and bread", "Processed dairy products and condiments", "Animal protein", "Fresh dairy products", "Miscellaneous foods"), explaining 41.73% of the total variance. The mean scores of fruits, vegetable, cereals-based dishes and animal protein dimensions was significantly different between participants with elevated versus low anxiety and depression scores, indicating good known-group validity. These four dimensions showed a significant positive correlation with age. Conclusions The Persian version of the FPQ-Adult demonstrated moderate to excellent test-retest reliability and acceptable to good internal consistency across all domains. The extracted factor structure supported construct validity, and significant differences in food preference dimensions between participants with elevated versus low anxiety or depression scores confirmed known-group validity. These findings indicate that the Persian FPQ-Adult has adequate psychometric properties for assessing food preferences in Persian-speaking community-dwelling adults.