Concept and evaluation of food craving: Unidimensional scales based on the trait and the state food Craving Questionnaire

Abstract

“Craving” is a motivational state that promotes an intense desire related to consummatory behaviors. Despite growing interest in the concept of food craving, there is a lack of available instruments to assess it in Brazilian Portuguese. The objectives were to translate and adapt the Trait and the State Food Craving Questionnaire (FCQ-T and FCQ-S) to Brazilian Portuguese and to evaluate the psychometric properties of these versions.The FCQ-T and FCQ-S were translated and adapted to Brazilian Portuguese and administered to students at the Federal University of São Paulo. Both questionnaires in their original models were examined considering different estimators (frequentist and bayesian). The goodness of fit underlying the items from both scales was assessed through the following fit indices: χ2, WRMR residual, comparative fit index, Tucker-Lewis index and RMSEA. Data from 314 participants were included in the analyses. Poor fit indices were obtained for both of the original questionnaires regardless of the estimator used and original structural model. Thus, three eating disorder experts reviewed the content of the instruments and selected the items which were considered to assess the core aspects of the craving construct. The new and reduced models (questionnaires) generated good fit indices. Our abbreviated versions of FCQ-S and FCQ-T considerably diverge from the conceptual framework of the original questionnaires. Based on the results of this study, we propose a possible alternative, i.e., to assess craving for food as a unidimensional construct.