German version of the Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0: Prevalence and correlates of ‘food addiction’ in students and obese individuals

Abstract

The Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) measures addiction-like eating of palatable foods based on the seven diagnostic criteria for substance dependence in the fourth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Most recently, a new version of the YFAS has been developed based on the revised eleven diagnostic criteria for substance use disorder in DSM-5. This YFAS 2.0 was translated into German and used among other measures in a study with 455 university students (89% female) and in a study with 138 obese patients presenting for bariatric surgery (78% female). In the student sample, the one-factorial structure of the English version could be replicated and internal consistency was α = 0.90. The diagnostic threshold for 'food addiction' was met by 10% of the sample. 'Food addiction' diagnoses were associated with higher body mass, binge eating frequency, trait food craving, and attentional impulsivity as well as with lower perceived self-regulatory success in dieting. In the obese sample, the diagnostic threshold for 'food addiction' was met by 47% of participants. Again, 'food addiction' symptomatology was associated with higher binge eating frequency and attentional impulsivity. However, those with a 'food addiction' diagnosis did not differ from those without a diagnosis in body mass. To conclude, psychometric properties of the English YFAS 2.0 were replicated for the German YFAS 2.0. Prevalence rates and correlates of 'food addiction' as measured with the YFAS 2.0 were similar to those found with the previous version of the YFAS. Thus, the German YFAS 2.0 appears to be a reliable measure that can be used for the investigation of addiction-like eating behavior, analogous to the original version of the YFAS and the English YFAS 2.0.

Prevalence of ‘Food Addiction' as Measured with the Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 in a Representative German Sample and Its Association with Sex, Age and Weight Categories

“…Similar to previous studies utilizing the original YFAS [24], this preliminary work observed that 9.7% of individuals met the threshold for ‘food addiction' and had an elevated BMI, relative to those who did not meet for a ‘food addiction' [37]. However, this previous study had several limitations that reduce the generalizability of the findings, such as limited generalizability to the German population, as participants were university students, and an overrepresentation of females (89%).…”

“…The YFAS 2.0 has demonstrated internal reliability (α = 0.90) and convergent validity with other measures of problematic eating [22,24,25]. In the current sample the German version of the YFAS 2.0 was used [37], and internal consistency was Kuder-Richardson's α = 0.91.…”

“…The current study aims to address limitations and build upon previous work [37] in two significant ways. First, the present sample uses standard practices for representative research to yield a more demographically representative sample of the German population (e.g., age, gender, education level).…”

“…Recently, the YFAS was translated into the German language [37] to evaluate the prevalence and correlates of ‘food addiction' in a German sample. Similar to previous studies utilizing the original YFAS [24], this preliminary work observed that 9.7% of individuals met the threshold for ‘food addiction' and had an elevated BMI, relative to those who did not meet for a ‘food addiction' [37].…”

Relationship between Food Addictive Behavior and Physical Activity in College-Aged Students

“…Symptom frequencies reported in the current investigation appear to be more similar to those describe by Meule and associates in German college-aged students [20]; though we did observe higher frequencies of symptoms of withdrawal (23.7% versus 14.7%) and time spent seeking the food of choice (22.4% versus 11.0%) than these authors. The impact of these differences in frequency of presence of symptoms of food addiction on the current question is not clear, but they do demonstrate the variability with which any given sample population could display food addictive behavior.…”