Exploring the factor structure of the Food Cravings Questionnaire-Trait in Cuban adults

Twenty Years of the Food Cravings Questionnaires: a Comprehensive Review

Purpose of Review

The Food Cravings Questionnaires (FCQs; Cepeda-Benito, Gleaves, Williams, & Erath, 2000) are among the most widely used instruments for measuring food cravings. In addition to the Food Cravings Questionnaire–Trait (FCQ–T) and the Food Cravings Questionnaire–State (FCQ–S), several modified versions have been developed as well. For their 20th anniversary, this article provides a comprehensive description of the FCQs and reviews studies on their psychometric properties and correlates.

Recent Findings

The FCQs and their modified versions have excellent internal reliability. Expectedly, the FCQ–T (and its derivatives) has higher retest-reliability than the FCQ–S as the FCQ–S is sensitive to situational changes such as food deprivation and food intake. However, while the FCQ–T is largely unaffected by such momentary states, it is also sensitive to change during weight-loss treatments and other interventions. Factor structure of the FCQ–T and FCQ–S has only partially been replicated. Construct validity of the FCQs is supported by experimental and longitudinal studies that measured food craving and food consumption in the laboratory and with ecological momentary assessment.

Summary

Numerous studies support reliability and validity of the FCQs and their modified versions, yet findings about their factor structures are inconsistent. Thus, using total scores or the short versions of the FCQs may be preferable.

Exploring the structural and construct validity of the Brazilian Food Cravings Questionnaire-Trait-reduced (FCQ-T-r)

OBJECTIVE

Food cravings play an important role in the neurobiology of appetitive behavior, being positively associated with negative feelings, eating disorders, and obesity. This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Brazilian Food Cravings Questionnaire-Trait-reduced (FCQ-T-r), a short version of the most widely used measure of this behavior.

METHODS

Undergraduate students (n=505) completed the full version of the FCQ-T and the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire. Respondents' height and weight were also measured. Exploratory factor analyses were performed.

RESULTS

The FCQ-T-r exhibited a single-factor structure and satisfactory internal consistency (α > 0.80). A positive correlation was observed between FCQ-T-r scores and those of the original version. Furthermore, FCQ-T-r scores correlated positively with uncontrolled eating and emotional eating behaviors. No correlation was found between body mass index and FCQ-T-r scores. Considering our sample characteristics, we suggested specific FCQ-T-r cutoff points for males and females in the Brazilian population.

CONCLUSION

Our results support the structure of the Brazilian adaptation of the FCQ-T-r, which seems to be a viable instrument to investigate food cravings, particularly in time-constrained settings. Further studies are needed to verify these findings in other age ranges and clinical samples.

Food cravings in food addiction: exploring a potential cut-off value of the Food Cravings Questionnaire-Trait-reduced

PURPOSE

The Food Cravings Questionnaires are among the most often used measures for assessing the frequency and intensity of food craving experiences. However, there is a lack of studies that have examined specific cut-off scores that may indicate pathologically elevated levels of food cravings.

METHODS

Receiver-Operating-Characteristic analysis was used to determine sensitivity and specificity of scores on the Food Cravings Questionnaire-Trait-reduced (FCQ-T-r) for discriminating between individuals with (n = 43) and without (n = 389) "food addiction" as assessed with the Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0.

RESULTS

A cut-off score of 50 on the FCQ-T-r discriminated between individuals with and without "food addiction" with high sensitivity (85%) and specificity (93%).

CONCLUSIONS

FCQ-T-r scores of 50 and higher may indicate clinically relevant levels of trait food craving.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level V, descriptive study.

Eating Behaviors in Cuban Adults: Results from an Exploratory Transcultural Study

This study aims to investigate eating behaviors in Cuban adults and compare them with those of a developed Western country, Italy. The study also aimed to determine the overall accuracy of a predictive model intended to define variables which could be used to discriminate between nationalities. Participants were 283 normal weight individuals from Cuba (n = 158) and Italy (n = 125). Italians had higher scores for restrained eating on the questionnaire than Cubans with a considerable effect size. This trend was also found for emotional eating and binge eating, as well as number of current dieters, despite the fact that effect sizes were small. On the other hand, Cubans, when compared to Italians reported higher scores for food thought suppression with reward responsiveness and restrained eating emerging as significant predictors of between-country differences. To conclude, eating behaviors in Cubans could be different from those reported in European countries, perhaps as a consequence of Cuba's recent history.

Exploring the "weight" of food cravings and thought suppression among Cuban adults

PURPOSE

The current study aimed to analyze individual differences on food cravings, intrusive-related thoughts and its suppression between normal weight and overweight/obese Cuban adults.

METHODS

Participants were 1,184 individuals from general population, aged between 18 and 64 years (M = 32.89; SD = 12.87), with 69.1 % females. All participants answered a set of questionnaires and provided demographic, anthropometric and clinical data.

RESULTS

Overweight/obese individuals had higher mean scores than normal weight individuals on food cravings (including its nine dimensions) and food and body weight/shape thought suppression. Large effect sizes were found for body weight/shape thoughts suppression and lack of control over eating, where overweight and obese individuals showed the highest scores. This trend was also found for food thoughts suppression, food cravings trait, cue-dependent eating, preoccupation with food and guilty feelings, with effect sizes from medium to large. Finally, medium effect sizes were observed for intention to eat and negative affect.

CONCLUSION

Overweight/obese individuals experienced more food cravings and food and body weight/shape thought suppression than normal weight individuals among Cuban adults.

Cross-validation of the reduced form of the Food Craving Questionnaire-Trait using confirmatory factor analysis

Objective: The Food Craving Questionnaire-Trait (FCQ-T) is commonly used to assess habitual food cravings among individuals. Previous studies have shown that a brief version of this instrument (FCQ-T-r) has good reliability and validity. This article is the first to use Confirmatory factor analysis to examine the psychometric properties of the FCQ-T-r in a cross-validation study.

Method: Habitual food cravings, as well as emotion regulation strategies, affective states, and disordered eating behaviors, were investigated in two independent samples of non-clinical adult volunteers (Sample 1: N = 368; Sample 2: N = 246). Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to simultaneously test model fit statistics and dimensionality of the instrument. FCQ-T-r reliability was assessed by computing the composite reliability coefficient.

Results: Analysis supported the unidimensional structure of the scale and fit indices were acceptable for both samples. The FCQ-T-r showed excellent reliability and moderate to high correlations with negative affect and disordered eating.

Conclusion: Our results indicate that the FCQ-T-r scores can be reliably used to assess habitual cravings in an Italian non-clinical sample of adults. The robustness of these results is tested by a cross-validation of the model using two independent samples. Further research is required to expand on these findings, particularly in children and adolescents.

A regulatory focus perspective on eating behavior: how prevention and promotion focus relates to emotional, external, and restrained eating

By applying regulatory focus theory (RFT) to the context of eating behavior, the present research examines the relations between individual differences in the two motivational orientations as conceptualized in RFT, that is, prevention-focused and promotion-focused self-regulation and emotional, external, and restrained eating. Building on a representative study conducted in the Netherlands (N = 4,230), it is documented that individual differences in prevention focus are positively related to emotional eating whereas negligible associations are found in regards to external and restrained eating. Individual differences in promotion focus are positively related to external eating whereas negligible associations are found in regards to emotional and restrained eating. In relating RFT to different eating styles we were able to document significant relations of basic self-regulatory orientations with regard to essential daily behavior associated with health and well-being. The implications for changing eating styles are discussed.