Validation of the brief TEMPS-M temperament questionnaire in a clinical Italian sample of bipolar and cyclothymic patients

Background: To assess psychometric proprieties of the short version of TEMPS-M in an Italian clinical sample of patients with bipolar disorder type I (BDI), type II (BDI) or cyclothymic disorder (CYC). Methods: All participants were recruited in two Italian university sites. They were asked to complete the Italian version of the short TEMPS-M, consisting of 35 items on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5. The factorial structure of the instrument was assessed by principal components analysis with varimax rotation. The reliability of the subscales was assessed with Cronbach's alpha. Results: The 815 recruited patients had a diagnosis of BDI (430), CYC (227) or BDII (158); 60% of them were female and with a mean age of 44.4 (+/- 14.6) years. Cronbach's alpha coefficients of subscales ranged from 0.808 to 0.898. The factor analysis confirmed five dimensions (depressive, cyclothymic, hyperthymic, irritable, anxious), as in the English version of the scale. All temperaments were more represented in CYC than in BDI patients. Depressive and anxious temperaments were more represented in BDII than in BDI; the hyperthymic temperament was represented more in BDI than in BDII patients. Limitations: No other assessment instrument was used as a reference to assess the external or predictive validity of TEMPS-M; several socio-demographic and clinical characteristics have not been assessed. Conclusion: The Italian version of the short TEMPS-M shows good reliability and validity. It might be used in clinical and research settings, for the dimensional exploration of the investigated domains.