Evaluating Craving in Alcohol Use Disorder: Psychometric Characteristics of the Craving Typology Questionnaire-15 (CTQ-15)

Aims The Craving Typology Questionnaire (CTQ) is a psychometric instrument used to assess alcohol craving in normal controls and subjects with alcohol use disorder (AUD). It allows a dimensional self-rating assessment of craving according to a three-pathway psychobiological model of craving distinguishing craving into a reward, relief and obsessive component. The aim of the present study is to evaluate psychometric properties of the CTQ-15, a revised version of CTQ with 15 items. Methods The CTQ-15 was firstly administered to two groups of control subjects, one (414 subjects) used for the exploratory factor analysis and the other one (415 subjects) for the confirmatory factor analysis. A three-factor model was assessed and compared to alternative models. Results The resulting structure was in line with the original scale CTQ. Obsessive craving accounted for 15.20% of the total variance, relief craving for the 13.99% and reward craving for 13.13% of the total variance. The three-factor model (M1) reached good fit indices (CFI = 0.96, TLI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.06 and SRMR = 0.05) and was significantly better than other alternative models. Reliability showed good internal consistency for each scale, i.e. obsessive craving (alpha = 0.92), relief craving (alpha = 0.82) and reward craving (alpha = 0.81). Conclusions The CTQ-15 proved to be reliable and practical for identifying the three dimensions of craving in clinical practice. Craving plays a crucial role in the mechanisms of dependence and relapse; thus, characterizing the craving can be fundamental to a targeted drug therapy.