Validation study of the Food Craving Questionnaire-Trait: Reduced in Greek population

Food craving (FC) is a behavior which results in an increased total energy intake. It is considered to be a multivariate outcome of (neuro)biologicals and environmental alterations that mostly impacts in bulimic and binge-eating behaviors. FC measurement questionnaires vary in the literature, with the most widely used being the Food Craving Questionnaire-State, Trait and Traitreduced. The purpose of the current study was the validation of the Food Craving Questionnaire-Traitreduced (FCQ-T-r) in Greek population. Along with the FCQ-T-r, the Eating Attitude Test-26 (EAT-26) was used for the evaluation of nutritional behavior, as well as the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) for assessing the health of the sample and a self-generated questionnaire for demographic information and anthropometric measurements. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) confirmation was made with Monte-Carlo Parallel Analysis (PA). The FCQ-T-r showed a high internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha=0.927) explaining up to 62.5% variance of the sample. The PCA indicated a two-factor solution (Thoughts & Emotions and Lack of Control) highly correlated with 14 questions in contrast from the original version which consists one-factor with 15 questions. The Monte-Carlo PA confirmed these findings. Additionally, statistical significantly and positively weak to moderate correlations have been observed between the total score of FCQ-T-r with the EAT-26 (r=0.28), EAT-Dieting (r=0.27), EAT-Bulimia (r=0.41) and the GHQ (total score and sub-scales r=0.17 to 0.24). Concurrent, its sub-scales Thoughts & Emotions and Lack of Control were statistical significantly stronger correlated with EAT-Dieting (r=0.24/0.38), EAT-Bulimia (r=0.27/0.37) and lower with GHQ and its sub-scales (total score and sub-scales r=0.15 to 0.29). The above results suggest fair psychometric properties and validity of the FCQ-T-r that could be a useful tool for indicating-measuring the tendency of food craving and possibly the eating behavior.