Adaptation of Food Craving Inventory to Turkish culture: a validity and reliability study

INTRODUCTION: The Food Craving Inventory is a 28-item self-report measure of specific food cravings. The inventory consists of 4 factors: high fats, sweets, carbohydrates/starches and fast-food fats. PURPOSE: This study was carried out to evaluate the Turkish validity and reliability of the Food Craving Inventory, and to determine the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Turkish version. METHODS: The sample of the study consists of 621 individuals between the ages of 19–50 who voluntarily agree to participate in online survey. Validity and reliability analyses were performed for the Turkish version of Food Craving Inventory (FCI-TR). Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to evaluate the factor structure of the Turkish version of FCI. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis yielded a four-factor structure as “sweets,” “high-fats,” “carbohydrates/starches” and “fast food fats”. The Cronbach-alpha coefficient for the total score was 0.84; subfactors were calculated as 0.74 for “sweets”, 0.64 for “high-fat foods”, 0.65 for “carbohydrates/starches”, and 0.66 for “fast-food fats”. The scores of the FCI-TR factors and its total score significantly correlated with the sub-factors of Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ). A significant correlation was found between body mass index (BMI) and high fats and fast-food fats factor score. Also total and factor scores of the FCI-TR were different between BMI groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that the Turkish version of the FCI is a valid and reliable tool to measure food cravings in the Turkish population. FCI is also correlated with sub-factors of TFEQ.