| Previous quality-of-life assessments lack a well-validated measure of dietary behavior as it relates to quality-of-life. The current study evaluates the psychometric properties and correlations of a novel, un-validated instrument designed to measure nutrition-related quality-of-life. This instrument's possible relationships with body mass index and mindfulness are also examined. The participants included 182 undergraduate students attending a southeastern university in the United States (53 males and 129 females, mean age = 22.6 years). The majority of participants were Caucasian (57.7%) and African-American (18.7%). Participants completed the Marlowe-Crowne Scale of Social Desirability (MC-SDS), the Nutrition Quality-of-Life Survey (NQOL v. 1.4), the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36 v 1.0), and the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS). Body weight and height were measured to assess body mass index. Results indicate that the NQOL has acceptable levels of reliability and validity in its initial phase of psychometric research, as measured by item analysis and its correlation to the SF-36. Individuals who scored higher on the NQOL were likely to have lower body mass indices, in addition to higher scores of mindfulness. Social desirability was positively correlated to nutrition quality-of-life. |
