Citation

Rojewski AM, Morean ME, Toll BA, McKee SA, Krishnan-Sarin S, Green BG, Bartoshuk LM, O'Malley SS. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2015; 154: 158-166.

Affiliation

Yale School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, CMHC, 34 Park Street, New Haven, CT 06519, USA; Yale Cancer Center, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.06.040

PMID

26183404

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.

Language: en