Development of a Scale to Measure Healthy Behaviors in Spanish-Speaking University Students

Chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a public health problem that affect the quality of life and well-being of people, especially the youth, who have been identified as a high-risk population. Physical inactivity is a key risk factor for NCDs, and an unhealthy diet is a significant driver of NCDs. On the other hand, physical exercise and healthy habits are effective methods of prevention. Although there are scales that measure different behaviors related to NCDs, most of them have been developed in another language (e.g., English) or only focus on one aspect of NCDs. The present study aimed to develop a scale to assess healthy behaviors (i.e., healthy eating and physical exercise) in Spanish-speaking university students, using an instrumental design, with a sample of 369 Chilean university students between 18 and 25 years of age. The results presented show evidence of validity through an exploratory structural equation model (ESEM), reliability estimation through McDonald’s omega and Cronbach’s alpha, evidence of invariance by sex, and evidence of validity in relation to other variables with an SEM model. It is concluded that the Healthy Behavior Scale, consisting of nine items to measure healthy eating and physical exercise, is a brief instrument with evidence of reliability and validity (CFI = 0.998; TLI = 0.995; and RMSEA = 0.063) for application in a Spanish-speaking university population, offering potential applications in research instruments, screening studies, and the development of new studies for other contexts.