A brief measure of disgust propensity

Abstract

In the context of large-scale surveys, pre-screening or longitudinal studies, researchers may be faced with the choice of using a brief measure of disgust propensity (DP: the general tendency to respond with the emotion of disgust to any given situation) or using no measure at all. The goal of the present study was to develop and validate such a short scale based on the Questionnaire for the Assessment of Disgust Propensity (QADP); Schienle et al., 2002). The participants (n = 1367; 80% female; mean age = 28 years) completed the QADP, and scales on disgust sensitivity and self-disgust. Brain structural data and disgust rating data were available for subsets of the total sample. Factor analysis revealed a five-factor structure of the QADP. A total of 10 items (two items for each factor) with the highest item-total correlations were selected. The resulting five-factor QADP (Cronbach’s alpha = .76) covers a broad range of disgust domains. The short QADP is correlated with the original questionnaire (r = .90), disgust sensitivity, disgust ratings for gustatory, olfactory and visual disgust elicitors, and volume in the insular cortex (a brain region involved in disgust processing). For future investigations, the QADP_brief can be a useful tool for assessing DP with high time efficiency.