The Yale Craving Scale: Development and psychometric properties

Drug Alcohol Depend. 2015 Sep 1:154:158-66. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.06.040. Epub 2015 Jul 6.

Abstract

Introduction: The current study presents a psychometric evaluation of the Yale Craving Scale (YCS), a novel measure of craving for cigarettes and alcohol, respectively. The YCS is the first craving measure to use a generalized Labeled Magnitude Scale (gLMS) as the scoring format, which facilitates between-group comparisons of subjective craving and eliminates ceiling effects by assessing the full range of imaginable sensation intensities.

Methods: Psychometric evaluations of the YCS for use with cigarettes (YCS Smoking) and alcohol (YCS Drinking) included assessments of latent factor structure, internal consistency, ceiling effects, and test-criterion relationships. Study samples included 493 treatment-seeking smokers and 213 heavy drinkers.

Results: Factor analyses of the 5-item YCS Smoking and Drinking scores confirmed a 1-factor scale. The YCS Smoking and Drinking scores evidenced: (1) good internal consistency, (2) scalar measurement invariance within several subgroups (e.g., smoking/drinking status; nicotine/alcohol dependence), (3) convergent relationships with extant craving measures, and (4) concurrent relationships with smoking/drinking outcomes.

Conclusions: These results suggest that the YCS represents a psychometrically sound scale for assessing smoking and drinking urges in dependent populations.

Keywords: Alcohol; Craving; Measurement invariance; Nicotine; Reliability; Urge; Validity.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Alcoholism / diagnosis*
  • Alcoholism / psychology*
  • Craving*
  • Family Health
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Psychiatric Status Rating Scales*
  • Psychometrics
  • Tobacco Use Disorder / diagnosis*
  • Tobacco Use Disorder / psychology*