Journal List > J Nutr Health > v.50(2) > 1081488

J Nutr Health. 2017 Apr;50(2):142-157. Korean.
Published online April 30, 2017.  https://doi.org/10.4163/jnh.2017.50.2.142
© 2017 The Korean Nutrition Society
Development of NQ-A, Nutrition Quotient for Korean Adolescents, to assess dietary quality and food behavior
Hye-Young Kim,1,** Jung-Sug Lee,2,** Ji-Yun Hwang,3 Sehyug Kwon,4 Hae Rang Chung,5 Tong-Kyung Kwak,6 Myung-Hee Kang,7 and Young-Sun Choi8
1Department of Food & Nutrition, Yongin University, Yongin 17092, Korea.
2Department of Food & Nutrition, Kookmin University, Seoul 02707, Korea.
3Department of Foodservice Management and Nutrition, Sangmyung University, Seoul 03016, Korea.
4Department of Statistics, Hannam University, Daejeon 34430, Korea.
5Nutrition for the Future Inc., Seoul 08788, Korea.
6Department of Food & Nutrition, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Korea.
7Department of Food & Nutrition, Hannam University, Daejeon 34430, Korea.
8Department of Food & Nutrition, Daegu University, Daegu 38453, Korea.

To whom correspondence should be addressed. tel: +82-53-850-6833, Email: yschoi@daegu.ac.kr

**These authors contributed equally to this article.

Received February 22, 2017; Revised February 28, 2017; Accepted March 27, 2017.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to develop a nutrition quotient for adolescents (NQ-A) to assess overall dietary quality and food behavior of Korean adolescents.

Methods

Development of the NQ-A was undertaken in three steps: item generation, item reduction, and validation. Candidate items of the NQ-A checklist were selected based on literature reviews, results of the fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, dietary guidelines for Korean adolescents, expert in-depth interviews, and national nutrition policies and recommendations. A total of 213 middle and high school students participated in a one-day dietary record survey and responded to 41 items in the food behavior checklist. Pearson's correlation coefficients between the responses to the checklist items along with nutritional status of the adolescents were calculated. Item reduction was performed, and 24 items were selected for the nation-wide survey. A total of 1,547 adolescents from 17 cities completed the checklist questionnaire. Exploratory factor and confirmatory factor analyses were performed to develop a final NQ-A model.

Results

Nineteen items were finalized as the checklist items for the NQ-A. Checklist items were composed of five factors (balance, diversity, moderation, environment, and practice). The five-factor structure accounted for 47.2% of the total variance. Standardized path coefficients were used as weights of the items. The NQ-A and five-factor scores were calculated based on the obtained weights of the questionnaire items.

Conclusion

Nutrition Quotient for adolescents (NQ-A) would be a useful instrument for evaluating dietary quality and food behavior of Korean adolescents. Further research on NQ-A is needed to reflect changes in adolescent's food behavior and environment.

Keywords: nutrition quotient; adolescent; dietary quality; food behavior; checklist

Figures


 Fig. 1
Process of NQ-A development. 1) FBC, Food behavior checklist, 2) DR, Dietary record
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Fig. 2
Weights and path coefficients of five-factor structure model of NQ-A
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Fig. 3
Comparison of percentage of nutrient intake of the adolescents to recommended nutrient intake (RNI) or adequate intake (AI) according to NQ-A score three-grade criterion of samples from the pilot survey. a,b: Different alphabets are significantly different by Duncan's multiple range test (p < 0.05).
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Fig. 4
ROC curve for the NQ-A model
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Tables


 Table 1
Checklist items selected for pilot survey
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Table 2
Items selected for a nationwide survey checklist and selection rationales
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Table 3
Results of exploratory factor analysis of the 19 items selected by LISREL analysis (n = 1,547)
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Table 4
NQ-A score and group score calculation using response point of the checklist
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Table 5
Nutrition Quotient checklist for adolescents
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Table 6
NQ-A score and sub-group score range by the three-grade criterion
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Notes

This research was supported by a grant (14162MFDS126) from Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in 2014.

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