Portuguese validation of the Version of the Regret Scale

Abstract

IntroductionRegret is defined as an aversive negative emotion associated to specific cognitive contents, felt when we consider that our current situation could be better, if we had taken a different decision (Zeelenberg and Pieters 1997). Regret Scale/RS corresponds to the regret-trait dimension of Regret and Maximization Scale developed by Schwartz et al. (2002).ObjectiveTo investigate the psychometric properties of the RS Portuguese version.MethodsA community sample composed of 108 university students and 79 employees (78.1% females; mean age = 33.16 ± 13.175; range: 17-62) answered the Portuguese preliminary versions of the RS and Bedtime Counterfactual Processing Questionnaire (BCPQ) and also the Profile of Mood States to evaluate Negative Affect/NA. To study the temporal stability, 31 participants (83.9% females; mean age = 26.54 ± 18.761) answered the RAFS again after 6 weeks.ResultsThe EA Cronbach alpha was “very good” (a = 0.72). All the items contributed to the internal consistency. The test-retest correlation coefficient was high, positive and significant (0.72; P < 0.001). Following Kaiser and Cattel Scree Plot criteria, only one factor was extracted, meaning that the scale is unidimensional. Pearson correlations of EA and BCPQ2 and NA were significant and high (r@.50).ConclusionsThe Portuguese version of RS has good reliability and validity. It could be very useful both in clinical and research contexts, namely in an ongoing project on the relationship between regret, personality and psychological distress.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.