German translation and validation of the Yale Food Addiction Scale

Excessive food consumption is often described as an addictive behavior. Nevertheless, to date in the German literature, there is a lack of instruments specifically assessing the construct of food addiction. For this reason, we translated and validated the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS, Gearhardt, Corbin, & Brownell, 2009). This scale identifies people with distinctive symptoms indicative of addiction to certain foods. Psychometric properties were tested in a sample comprising predominantly university students (N = 752). The one-factorial structure of the YFAS could be replicated and an adequate internal consistency was achieved. Convergent validity revealed medium-to-high correlations with other measures of problematic eating behavior. Discriminant validity was shown for distinct but related constructs, such as alcohol addiction and impulsivity. Furthermore, the YFAS proved to be a significant predictor of binge eating episodes. The YFAS appears to be a useful tool for the assessment of eating behaviors that have an addiction-like character.