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.
Keywords: Eating disorders; Food addiction; Italian version; Validation; YFAS 2.0.