Food Cravings Questionnaire-Trait (FCQ-T) discriminates between obese and overweight patients with and without binge eating tendencies: the Italian version of the FCQ-T

Food craving (FC) might play an important role in the course of eating disorders and obesity. The question of its measurement has particular importance in relation to the dramatic growth in obesity rates and its relevance for public health. The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Food Cravings Questionnaire-Trait (FCQ-T) in overweight and obese patients who were attending weight loss programs, and its efficiency in discriminating patients with binge eating. Participants were 497 (411 women, 86 men) overweight and obese patients in treatment with low-energy diet therapy. We used structural equation modeling to compare 3 factor models tested in previous studies (a 6-factor model, an 8-factor model, and a 9-factor model), which indicated that the 9-factor model has a better fit over the competing models. The FCQ-T had good internal consistency (Cronbach's α of .96 for the total score, and between .76 and .92 for subfactors), and was able to discriminate patients with clinical-level binge eating from those with probable and without binge eating with an efficiency of .74 (sensitivity = .64, specificity = .78). FCQ-T scores were sensitive to changes associated with treatment only for patients who started dietary restriction between the baseline and the follow-up assessment, but not for patients who were already observing dietary restrictions at the time of the baseline assessment. These results suggest that the FCQ-T could be a potentially useful measure for the screening of binge eating problems in overweight and obese patients while in treatment.