Reliability and validity of the modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 (mYFAS 2.0) in a sample of individuals with depressive disorders

Background Food addiction (FA) is strongly associated with depressive symptoms. The reliability and validity of the Modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 (mYFAS 2.0) were not previously determined in clinical samples in Brazil. This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Brazilian version of the mYFAS 2.0 in adult individuals with depressive disorders. Methods The data stems from a survey investigating FA in a convenience sample of subjects diagnosed with a depressive disorder. Participants answered mYFAS 2.0 and scales for binge eating, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and alcohol and nicotine use. Height and weight were measured to calculate the Body Mass Index (BMI). We evaluated the factor structure, reliability, convergent, discriminant, criterion, and incremental validity. Results The sample encompassed 303 participants with a mean age of 37.03 +/- 11.72 years, 84.16% of whom were women. The Cronbach's alpha for the mYFAS 2.0 was satisfactory (alpha = 0.915). The best goodness-of-fit model was a single factor, and mYFAS 2.0 showed convergent validity with binge eating and discriminant validity with the alcohol and nicotine use measures. Food addiction presented a weak positive correlation with depressive and anxiety symptoms and BMI. Three food addiction symptoms provided the best balance between sensitivity (80.95%) and specificity (74.81%). Incremental validity over binge eating symptoms was confirmed (t = 4.040, beta = 0.681, p < 0.001). Conclusions The Brazilian mYFAS 2.0 performed satisfactorily in this clinical sample of participants with a depressive disorder. These findings suggest it may be a brief, useful, and valid food addiction screening tool for this group.