Abstract
The Brief Irritability Test (BITe, Holtzman et al., 2014) is a brief, reliable, and valid self-report measure of irritability. Despite the growing interest to understand the underlying causes and consequences of irritability, this questionnaire has not been developed and validated for a French-speaking population yet. In the present study, 413 participants completed our French adaptation of the BITe (i.e., TCI; Test Court d’Irritabilité) and measures of associated constructs (depression, anger, hostility, and aggression) and well-being (life satisfaction and social support). Descriptive, psychometric (i.e., Cronbach alpha and Spearman correlation coefficients), and factor analyses were conducted. An exploratory factor analysis in sample 1 (n = 209), yielded one single factor. The confirmatory factor analysis in sample 2 (n = 204) showed a reasonable fit of this single factor model explaining 55.5% of the variance and presenting a strong internal consistency (α = .80). Compared to the original English questionnaire, the TCI shares similar unidimensional factor organization and correlations with other constructs, although a gender bias was identified, with women scoring higher than men. Irritability was higher among respondents in the age range 17–25, compared to older adults. A hierarchical regression analysis showed that TCI scores significantly predict depressive symptoms when demographics were controlled for. In summary, the TCI presents good psychometric properties and could constitute a valuable tool to evaluate irritability in clinical and research contexts.
Highlights
Irritability can be defined as an increased sensitivity to negative emotional stimuli leading to an affective response of anger and frustration, and sometimes a behavioral response of aggression (Leibenluft & Stoddard, 2013; Toohey & Di Giuseppe, 2017)
Irritability appears to be a transdiagnostic phenomenon observed in both externalizing disorders and internalizing disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013)
Longitudinal studies have shown that the presence of chronic severe irritability persistently angry, grumpy, or grouchy mood and 2) behavioral temper outbursts) in children and adolescents robustly predicts later depression, anxiety disorders, suicidality as well as lower educational level and income (Copeland, Brotman & Costello, 2015; Pickles et al, 2010; Stringaris et al, 2009; Vidal-Ribas et al, 2016)
Summary
Irritability can be defined as an increased sensitivity to negative emotional stimuli leading to an affective response of anger and frustration, and sometimes a behavioral response of aggression (Leibenluft & Stoddard, 2013; Toohey & Di Giuseppe, 2017). Longitudinal studies have shown that the presence of chronic severe irritability (i.e., a construct conceptualized by two clinical manifestations; 1) persistently angry, grumpy, or grouchy mood and 2) behavioral temper outbursts) in children and adolescents robustly predicts later depression, anxiety disorders, suicidality as well as lower educational level and income (Copeland, Brotman & Costello, 2015; Pickles et al, 2010; Stringaris et al, 2009; Vidal-Ribas et al, 2016). Patients suffering from Huntington or Alzheimer disease Patients suffering from affective disorders, Huntington, or Alzheimer disease Women suffering from female-specific mood disorders (i.e., premenstrual, perinatal, and perimenopausal mood disorders) Adult patients suffering from epilepsy
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