Development and validation of the Dietarian Identity Questionnaire: Assessing self-perceptions of animal-product consumption

In navigating decisions about what to eat, people both construct and rely on a food-choice identity. Yet food choice is multifaceted, as people apply different dietary schemas to different types of food, engaging various domains of food-choice identity. In this paper, we focus on dietarian identity: ones thoughts, feelings, and behaviors with respect to consuming or eschewing animal products (here, pertaining to red meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy). First, we draw upon Rosenfeld and Burrow's (2017a) Unified Model of Vegetarian Identity in order to develop a Dietarian Identity Questionnaire (DIQ). Second, we validate the DIQ's factor structure, construct validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and replicability. Lastly, we highlight directions for the use of the DIQ in future research.