Abstract
Self-regulation plays a key role in the eating behavior of children and adolescents, while facing the environment "temptations". The Tempest Self-Regulation Questionnaire (TESQ-E; www.tempestproject.eu) is an instrument for measuring cross-cultural self-regulation. It has been constructed, adapted and translated into nine European Countries within the TEMPEST project. This article aims to study the validation of the Portuguese version of the instrument. The sample includes 1200 Portuguese pre-adolescents and adolescents, of average age 12.5 years (SD = 1.61) between nine and 17 years of age, 48.3% boys, from different educational grades: 5th grade (16.8%), 6th grade (19.8%), 7th grade (30.8%), 8th grade (17.8%) and 9th grade (14.9%). The Portuguese version of the instrument demonstrated good psychometric properties and kept the factor structure of the original version: three dimensions, which include six strategies for self -regulation, two in each dimension. The most popular dimension was Maintaining healthy eating objectives, and the less popular Change the meaning of temptation. The study concluded that the TESQ-E is a reliable instrument to estimate the self-regulation strategies in children and adolescents. Psychometric guidelines are presented to the Portuguese population aged nine to 17 years old.
Self-regulation; adolescents; eating behavior; obesity; health promotion
