Children’s Eating Behavior Inventory

The Children's Eating Behavior Inventory (CEBI) treats mealtime problems as something that happens between people rather than inside one child. A parent rates 40 statements about how often each behavior happens, and then answers a separate yes/no for each: is this a problem for you?

Twenty-eight items describe the child — food preferences, the motor skills eating requires, and behavioral compliance at the table. The remaining twelve describe the parent and the family: how control is handled, what the parent thinks and feels about feeding this child, and how family members interact around meals. Two scores come out, a total eating problem score and a count of how many items the parent flagged as a problem. Skip patterns accommodate single-parent and only-child households.

• Original Publication: Archer, Rosenbaum & Streiner (1991)

Learn More: Items are rated on a 5-point frequency scale. A total eating problem score of 41 or greater has been reported as the threshold distinguishing children with eating and mealtime problems.