Continuation of unhealthy dietary patterns and related health outcomes among low-income populations underscores the need to improve diet quality. Enhancing eating competence (EC), based on the Satter model of EC (ecSatter), may be one effective method to reach this goal, but requires substantiation. The objectives of the research included in this dissertation were to examine the congruence of ecSatter with the cognitive and affective eating behaviors of low-income adults and to test the construct validity of the ecSatter Inventory (ecSI), a self-report measure of EC, with a low-income population. These objectives were met through three studies.

Study I was a qualitative, exploratory assessment of EC with 70 low-income adults. Findings suggested that ecSatter provided a tenable framework for rationalizing participants' cognitive and affective responses to eating experiences. Participants who lacked EC were more likely to express negative thoughts and feelings associated with eating, compared to eating competent participants. Furthermore, for non-eating competent participants, weight management played an important role in food practices.

In study II, the ecSI was cognitively tested with 25 low-income women. Interview responses were examined for consistency between participants' reasoning processes and researchers' intended meaning of survey items. Findings provided a rationale for making modifications to the ecSI prior to use with low-income adults. Findings also suggested that the modified items more appropriately matched the cognitive processes of participants. Scores from the modified instrument, the ecSatter Inventory for Low Income (ecSI/LI), correctly categorized participants by level of EC, supporting the instrument's validity.

Study III was designed to evaluate psychometric properties of the ecSI/LI with 507 low-income women. Confirmatory factor analysis validated the ecSI/LI factor structure. Construct validity was supported by comparison of ecSI/LI responses to outcomes of validated measures of cognitive and affective eating behaviors and food preferences and practices. Findings support the utility of the ecSI/LI to empirically assess the theoretical construct of EC with low-income women.

Findings from these three studies lay a foundation for future research regarding EC among low-income groups. Taken together, data suggest that EC may be a suitable target in interventions designed to improve diet quality of low-income audiences.