Structural validity of the mealtime behaviour questionnaire for children with autism spectrum disorder in Japan

[Purpose] Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit many problematic mealtime behaviours. Currently, there is no process for measuring the mealtime behaviours of children with ASD in Japan. Therefore, we developed the ASD-Mealtime Behaviour Questionnaire (ASD-MBQ) using the results of surveys measuring problematic mealtime behaviours in Japanese children with ASD aged 3–18 years. The objective of this study was to analyse the structural validity of the ASD-MBQ in Japan. [Participants and Methods] We recruited 378 children with ASD aged 3–18 years and performed a confirmatory factor analysis on the ASD-MBQ by using a five-factor structure. [Results] The confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated structural validity (χ(2)=796.5, degrees of freedom=265, comparative fit index=0.901, root mean square error of approximation [90% confidence interval]=0.073 [0.067–0.079]). [Conclusion] We have demonstrated the structural validity of the ASD-MBQ, which provided useful information for planning interventions and evaluations for children with ASD. Further studies need to consider cut-off score by age and inter-rater reliability.