Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire – Revised 18

What it measures

Measures three eating behaviour styles: cognitive restraint (deliberate food restriction for weight control), uncontrolled eating (tendency to overeat in response to hunger or external cues), and emotional eating (eating in response to negative emotions). Widely used in obesity, bariatric, and dietary intervention research.

Response format

Likert (1–4, definitely true to definitely false, plus frequency anchors); subscale scores

Representative items

• I consciously hold back at meals in order not to gain weight. (Cognitive Restraint)
• I do not eat some foods because they make me fat. (Cognitive Restraint)
• When I smell a sizzling steak, I find it very difficult to keep from eating even if I just had a meal. (Uncontrolled Eating)
• When I feel lonely, I console myself by eating. (Emotional Eating)
• I get so hungry that my stomach often seems like a bottomless pit. (Uncontrolled Eating)

Usage notes & scoring

Three subscale scores. Higher scores = more of that eating style. Freely available for research. Derived from Stunkard & Messick's (1985) original 51-item TFEQ. Widely used in bariatric surgery research and dietary intervention trials.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Karlsson, J., Persson, L.O., Sjöström, L., & Sullivan, M. (2000). Psychometric properties and factor structure of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) in obese men and women. International Journal of Obesity, 24(12), 1715–1725.

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