Spanish version of the irrational food beliefs scale.

OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to develop a Spanish adaptation of the Irrational Food Beliefs Scale (IFBS). This is important due not only to the scarcity and limitations of existing instruments in Spanish, but also to the potential of the IFBS in terms of studying the difficulties some people face in achieving healthy weight control. METHODS Subjects were 323 secondary-level and high school students (12-20 years; 152 females, 171 males). In addition to the IFBS, we determined the body mass index and analysed the following variables: influence of the aesthetic body shape model, perceived stress, coping strategies, self-esteem and variables from the Eating Disorders Inventory-2. RESULTS The factor analysis yielded two factors corresponding to irrational and rational beliefs about food. The internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficient) of the IFBS as a whole and of the irrational and rational subscales was 0.863, 0.881 and 0.779, respectively. The analysis of correlations with the abovementioned variables showed an adequate construct validity. DISCUSSION The Spanish version of the IFBS fulfils the psychometric requirements for a measure of irrational/rational food beliefs and shows adequate internal consistency and construct validity.