Abstract

Youths often exhibit poor eating behavior, including high fast-food intake and low fruit and vegetable consumption. This poor eating behavior undermines quality of life, which may subsequently contribute to the continuation of unhealthy dietary habits. In Malaysia, 53.5% of the population is overweight or obese, making obesity a major problem. This preliminary study aims to examine the underlying factor structure of the Quality of Life (QoL) and Eating Behavior (EB) scales. A sample size of n = 50 and participants aged 18 to 30 years completed a structured questionnaire that incorporated the WHOQoL and Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ). The data were then analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to validate the factor structure of the instruments between observed variables and factors. The results of the EFA showed all items exhibited acceptable communalities, ranging from 0.536 to 0.599, above the recommended threshold of 0.50, and Cronbach's Alpha values were above 0.8, indicating that all variables had satisfactory internal reliability and construct validity. The study validated constructs from this analysis that offer a sound foundation for future research involving larger samples.

Keywords

References

1. Andrade, C. 2020. The limitations of online surveys. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 42(6), 575-576.
2. Cooper, W.W., Seiford, L.M. & Zhu, J. 2011. Data Envelopment Analysis: History, Models, and Interpretations. In: Cooper, W., Seiford, L. & Zhu, J. (eds). Handbook on Data Envelopment Analysis. International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, vol 164. Boston: Springer.
3. Cuijpers, P., Miguel, C., Harrer, M., Plessen, C. Y., Ciharova, M., Ebert, D., & Karyotaki, E. 2023. Cognitive behaviour therapy vs. control conditions, other psychotherapies, pharmacotherapies and combined treatment for depression: a comprehensive meta‐analysis including 409 trials with 52,702 patients. World Psychiatry, 22(1), 105-115.
4. Daley, S. F., Vadakekut, E. S. 2025. The DASH Diet: A Guide to Managing Hypertension Through Nutrition. 2025 Dec 1. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing. PMID: 29494120.
5. de Medeiros, A. C. Q., Yamamoto, M. E., Pedrosa, L. F. C. & Hutz, C. S. 2017. The Brazilian version of the three-factor eating questionnaire-R21: Psychometric evaluation and scoring pattern. Eating and Weight Disorders, 22(1), 169–175.
6. Defar, S., Abraham, Y., Reta, Y., Deribe, B., Jisso, M., Yeheyis, T. & Ayalew, M. 2023. Health-related quality of life among people with mental illness: The role of socio-clinical characteristics and level of functional disability. Frontiers in Public Health, 11, 1134032.
7. Duarte, P. A. S., Palmeira, L. & Pinto-Gouveia, J. 2020. The three-factor eating questionnaire-R21: A confirmatory factor analysis in a Portuguese sample. Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 25(1), 247–256.
8. Eaton, M., Firth, J. & Sarris, J. 2020. Nutrition and Mental Health—How the Food We Eat Can Affect Our Mood (https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2020.00115). Last accessed on 23 December 2025
9. Ejigu, B. A. & Tiruneh, F. N. 2023. The link between overweight/obesity and noncommunicable diseases in Ethiopia: Evidence from the WHO STEPS survey 2015. International Journal of Hypertension, 2023(1), 2199853.
10. Etikan, I., Musa, S. A. & Alkassim, R. S. 2016. Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5(1), 1 - 4.
11. Firth, J., Gangwisch, J. E., Borsini, A., Wootton, R. E. & Mayer, E. A. 2020. Food and mood: How do diet and nutrition affect mental wellbeing? BMJ, 369, m2382.
12. Hair, J. F., L.D.S. Gabriel, M., da Silva, D. & Braga Junior, S. 2019. Development and Validation of Attitudes Measurement Scales: Fundamental and Practical Aspects. RAUSP Management Journal, 54(4), 490–507.
13. Hair, J. F., Sarstedt, M., Hopkins, L. & Kuppelwieser, V. G. 2014. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM): An emerging tool in business research. European Business Review, 26(2), 106–121.
14. Hasanah, C. I., Naing, L. & Rahman, A. R. 2003. World Health organisation quality of life assessment: Brief version in Bahasa Malaysia. The Medical Journal of Malaysia, 58(1), 79–88.
15. Hill, R. 1998. What Sample Size Is Enough in Internet Survey Research. Interpersonal Computing and Technology: An Electronic Journal for the 21st Century, 6, 1-10.
16. Institute for Public Health (IPH). 2020. National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2019: Vol. I: NCDs – Non-Communicable Diseases: Risk Factors and other Health Problems. National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia. (https://iku.nih.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/NHMS2019/Report_NHMS2019-NCD_v2.pdf). Last accessed on 29 December 2025.
17. Johanson, G. A. & Brooks, G. P. 2010. Initial scale development: sample size for pilot studies. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 70(3), 394-400.
18. Lanuza, F., Morales, G., Hidalgo-Rasmussen, C., Balboa-Castillo, T., Ortiz, M. S., Belmar, C. & Muñoz, S. 2020. Association between eating habits and quality of life among Chilean university students. Journal of American College Health, 70(1), 280-286.
19. Lee, J. E., Kim, Y. J., Park, H. J., Park, S., Kim, H. & Kwon, O. 2019. Association of recommended food score with depression, anxiety, and quality of life in Korean adults: The 2014-2015 national fitness award project. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 956.
20. Liu, R., Menhas, R. & Saqib, Z. A. 2024. Does physical activity influence health behaviour, mental health, and psychological resilience under the moderating role of quality of life?. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1349880.
21. Nazali, M. I. M., Razali, S., Ariaratnam, S., Ahmad, Y. & Nawawi, H. 2021. The 2019 Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia staff survey: Determining the level and predictors of quality of life. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 705018.
22. Pequeno, N. P. F., Cabral, N. L. de A., Marchioni, D. M., Lima, S. C. V. C. & Lyra, C. de O. 2020. Quality of life assessment instruments for adults: A systematic review of population-based studies. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 18(1), 208.
23. Romero-Blanco, C., Hernández-Martínez, A., Parra-Fernández, M. L., Onieva-Zafra, M. D., Prado-Laguna, M. D. C., & Rodríguez-Almagro, J. 2021. Food addiction and lifestyle habits among university students. Nutrients, 13(4), 1352.
24. Roscoe, J. T. 1975. Fundamental Research Statistics for the Behavioural Science Volume 2, International Series in Decision Process. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. (https://books.google.com.my/books/about/Fundamental_Research_Statistics_for_the.html?id=Fe8vAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y). Last accessed on 29 December 2025.
25. Sadeghi, O., Keshteli, A. H., Afshar, H., Esmaillzadeh, A. & Adibi, P. 2021. Adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern is inversely associated with depression, anxiety and psychological distress. Nutritional Neuroscience, 24(4), 248–259.
26. Samsudin, S., Ismail, R., Daud, S. N. M., & Yahya, S. 2024. The prevalence and underlying factors of mental health disorders in Malaysian youth. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 15, 100706.
27. Shams-Rad, S., Bidaki, R., Nadjarzadeh, A., Salehi-Abargouei, A., de Courten, B. & Mirzaei, M. 2022. The association between major dietary patterns and severe mental disorders symptoms among a large sample of adults living in Central Iran: Baseline data of YaHS-TAMYZ cohort study. BMC Public Health, 22(1), 1121.
28. Stunkard, A. J. & Messick, S. 1985. The three-factor eating questionnaire to measure dietary restraint, disinhibition and hunger. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 29(1), 71-83.
29. The Whoqol, G. 1998. Development of the World Health Organisation WHOQOL-BREF quality of life assessment: The WHOQOL group. Psychological Medicine, 28(3), 551–558.
30. Van-der-Heijden, A., te Molder, H., Jager, G. & Mulder, B. C. 2021. Healthy eating beliefs and the meaning of food in populations with a low socioeconomic position: A scoping review. Appetite, 161, 105135.
31. Wickman, B. E., Enkhmaa, B., Ridberg, R., Romero, E., Cadeiras, M., Meyers, F. & Steinberg, F. 2021. Dietary management of heart failure: DASH diet and precision nutrition perspectives. Nutrients, 13(12), 4424.
32. Williams, B., Onsman, A., & Brown, T. 2010. Exploratory factor analysis: A five-step guide for novices. Australasian Journal of Paramedicine, 8, 1-13.
33. World Health Organization (WHO). 1997. WHOQOL: Measuring quality of life. World Health Organization. (https://iris.who.int/items/8c03c936-698c-43ca-b172-cc66c423833a). Last accessed on 29 December 2029.
34. Young, C. A., Mills, R., Al-Chalabi, A., Burke, G., Chandran, S., Dick, D. J., Ealing, J., Hanemann, C. O., Harrower, T., Mcdermott, C. J., Majeed, T., Pinto, A., Talbot, K., Walsh, J., Williams, T. L. & Tennant, A. 2020. Measuring quality of life in ALS/MND: Validation of the WHOQOL-BREF. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration, 21(5–6), 364–372.
35. Yusoff, M. M. 2020. Improving the quality of life for sustainable development. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 561(1), 012020.