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Validation of the Italian version of the Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 (I-YFAS 2.0) in a sample of undergraduate students

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Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Food addiction (FA) refers to a condition characterized by addiction in relation to some high-fat and high-sugar carbohydrate that leads to clinically significant impairment or distress on several areas of functioning. The Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 (YFAS 2.0) has been recently updated to measure FA according to the DSM-5 criteria for substance-related and addictive disorders. This study aimed at validating the Italian version of YFAS 2.0.

Methods

A sample of 574 Italian university students was involved in this research. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Kuder–Richardson’s alpha for dichotomous data were run to evaluate scale structure and reliability. Correlations between YFAS 2.0 and eating psychopathology, binge eating, sleep, and mood symptoms were evaluated.

Results

Analogously to the original version, a single factor structure emerged at the CFA. The alpha coefficient was 0.87. Moreover, sound, from moderate to high, correlations were found with other measures.

Conclusions

The Italian version of the YFAS 2.0 has demonstrated in a sample of university students to be a useful tool to investigate food addictions.

Level of evidence Level V, descriptive study.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are grateful to Prof. Ashley N. Gearhardt from University of Michigan for her selfless support and her suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Sciences, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, Viale Europa, 88100, Catanzaro, Italy

    Matteo Aloi, Marianna Rania, Pasquale De Fazio & Cristina Segura-Garcia

  2. Center for Clinical Research and Treatment of Eating Disorders, University Hospital Mater Domini, Catanzaro, Italy

    Matteo Aloi, Marianna Rania & Cristina Segura-Garcia

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge-IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain

    Rita Cristina Rodríguez Muñoz, Susana Jiménez Murcia & Fernando Fernández-Aranda

  4. CIBER Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBEROBN), ISCIII, Barcelona, Spain

    Susana Jiménez Murcia & Fernando Fernández-Aranda

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  1. Matteo Aloi
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  2. Marianna Rania
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  3. Rita Cristina Rodríguez Muñoz
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  4. Susana Jiménez Murcia
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  6. Pasquale De Fazio
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  7. Cristina Segura-Garcia
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cristina Segura-Garcia.

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Conflict of interest

FFA was partially supported by FIS (PII4/290). CIBERON is an initiative of ISCIII. The other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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No grant was obtained for this research.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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This article is part of the topical collection on Food addiction.

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Aloi, M., Rania, M., Rodríguez Muñoz, R.C. et al. Validation of the Italian version of the Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 (I-YFAS 2.0) in a sample of undergraduate students. Eat Weight Disord 22, 527–533 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-017-0421-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-017-0421-x

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