Validation of an Italian version of the Food Craving Questionnaire-State: Factor structure and sensitivity to manipulation

• Habitual food cravings may be distinguished from short-term changes.
• The state food craving questionnaire was validated.
• A 5 factor structure best fitted the data.
• All 5 factors scores increased after exposure to food stimuli.
• The fear of lacking control was higher in disordered eating participants.

ObjectiveThe present paper describes two studies designed to evaluate the construct and the predictive validity of an Italian version of the Food Craving Questionnaire-State (FCQ-S).MethodsIn the first study 368 volunteers aged 18–65 years completed the FCQ-S and the Disordered Eating Questionnaire (DEQ). In the second study 41 females with eating disorders symptoms (mean age: 24.4 yrs., DEQ ≥ 30; Body Mass Index (BMI) in the range 17 to 30.9 kg/m2, 87.5% in the normal range) and 43 female healthy controls (mean age: 25.6 yrs., DEQ < 30; BMI in the normal range) took part in an experiment aimed at assessing changes in FCQ-S after exposure to words or images of highly palatable foods.ResultsThe results of Study 1 showed that the five-factor model had acceptable fit indices. All subscales of the FCQ-S (but Desire) significantly correlated with the disordered eating measure. The strongest relationship was found between disordered eating and fear of losing control over food intake. The results of Study 2 revealed that four out of five FCQ-S subscales significantly increased after exposure to food stimuli. Participants with eating disorders symptoms, as compared to controls, also showed higher fear of losing control over food and higher negative reinforcement, although this difference was only marginally significant.ConclusionsThe Italian version of the FCQ-S has good construct and concurrent validity, and it seems sensitive in detecting changes induced by stimuli related to highly palatable foods.