Validation and measurement invariance of the Intuitive Eating Scale-3 among Brazilian adolescents

Intuitive eating is an evidence-based, non-diet approach to nutrition that heals individuals' relationship with food by listening to internal body cues rather than external rules. The Intuitive Eating Scale is a widely used measure that has been validated across diverse cultural contexts and among individuals of different sociocultural backgrounds. However, its third version (IES-3) is not available for adolescents, an at-risk population for eating disorders and body image disturbances. In the present study, we perform the validation of the IES-3 in a sample of 295 Brazilian adolescents. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) supported the original four-factor structure of the measure, after excluding IES-3 Item #6. Bifactor CFA support a global scale score. Full measurement invariance was found between male and female adolescents. Additionally, we found good convergent validity with measures of emotional eating, external eating, restrained eating, body acceptance by others, body appreciation, and body dissatisfaction. Finally, we found good internal consistency for IES-3 total scores and two subscales. Results support the use of the measure in Brazilian adolescents, allowing for future studies on eating disorder prevention and intervention. • IES-3 showed good psychometric properties for Brazilian adolescents. • The original four-factor structure was supported after excluding one IES-3 item. • Full sex invariance was observed across Brazilian male and female adolescents. • IES-3 scores were inversely related to maladaptive eating and body dissatisfaction. • IES-3 scores were positively related to positive body image.