Confirmation of the factorial structure of temperamental autoquestionnaire TEMPS-A in non-clinical young adults and relation to current state of anxiety, depression and to schizotypal traits

Background: The 39-item TEMPS-A self-rated questionnaire assesses affective temperaments. We examined the factorial structure of its French version in a large sample of young adults and examined the relation to schizotypy, depression and anxiety. Method: University students were enrolled during their mandatory preventive health visit in the University medical facility (n = 3807, 19.9 +/- 2.5 y.o.). They answered to the 39-TEMPS-A questionnaire, the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) and the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS). We performed an exploratory Factorial Component Analysis (FCA) with varimax rotation of the 39-TEMPS-A in half of the sample, randomly selected, followed by a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) in the remaining subsample. TEMPS-A dimensions were correlated to HADS and SPQ sub-scores. Results: A five-factor structure was found by PCA and confirmed by the confirmatory analysis. The scale showed a good internal consistency (whole scale Cronbach's alpha: 0.83 and from 0.78 to 0.59 for Cyclothymic, Depressive, irritable, Hyperthymic, Anxious subscales). Depressive and Anxious TEMPS-A subscales were moderately correlated to HADS Depression and Anxiety subscales (Spearman rho = 0.37 to 0.33). Cyclothymic and Depressive TEMPS-A subscales were respectively correlated to SPQ Paranoid (rho = 0.53) and Negative dimensions (rho = 0.52). Limitation: Representativity of the sample (higher education, response rate). Conclusion: We confirmed the five factor structure of the 39-item TEMPS-A in a large non-clinical population of young adults and found consistent correlations with anxiety - depression state markers and schizotypal traits. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.