Psychometric validation of the Yale Food Addiction Scale for Children (YFAS-C) in Spanish in a Mexican population

• Published in: Nutrición hospitalaria : organo oficial de la Sociedad Española de Nutrición Parenteral y Enteral Vol. 41; no. 1; pp. 38 - 46
• Main Authors: Santos Flores, Jesús Melchor, Trujillo Hernández, Pedro Enrique, Guevara Valtier, Milton Carlos, Lara Reyes, Braulio J, Santos Flores, Izamara, Cárdenas Villarreal, Velia Margarita, Rodríguez Vidales, Edgar Paolo, Marroquín Escamilla, Alma Rosa, Vega Grimaldo, Miguel Ángel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Spanish; English
• Published: Spain 15.02.2024
• Subjects: Adolescent; Behavior, Addictive; Child; Feeding Behavior; Food Addiction - diagnosis; Humans; Mexico - epidemiology; Pediatric Obesity - diagnosis; Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychometrics; Reproducibility of Results; Surveys and Questionnaires; Mexico; Adicción a la comida. Estudio de validación. Conducta infantil. Conducta adictiva. Sobrepeso
• ISSN: 0212-1611; 1699-5198
• DOI: 10.20960/nh.04629

Introduction: Mexico is one of the countries with the highest prevalence of childhood obesity worldwide. The increase of addictive behaviors at an early age is a possible cause of its development. The Yale Food Addiction Scale for Children (YFAS-C) allows identifying children with food addictive behaviors. Objective: to validate the YFAS-C scale in Spanish in a population sample of Mexican children and adolescents. Material and methods: an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was performed. The study sample consisted of 448 children from seven to 14 years of age. The first stage involved translation into Spanish; a second stage involved the solution of questions with discrepancies; then, a reverse translation into the original language and a review by experts on the subject of eating disorders in pediatric population were performed; and in the last stage, a pilot test in order to culturally adapt the instrument and the evaluation of the psychometric properties was carried out. Results: using the principal component extraction method, four components were identified that explained 47.1 % of the sample variance. In the confirmatory factor analysis, it was found that the goodness-of-fit indices met the required values (CFI = 0.906: GFI = 0.932; AGFI = 0.915, SRMS = 0.007 and RMSEA = 0.043). Conclusions: a validated Spanish version of the YFAS-C scale was obtained for Mexican children and adolescents to assess food addiction.