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Abstract
Objective: This study aimed to translate and adapt the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale for use within the distinct
cultures of the various regions of Brazil.
Method: First, the original English version of the UPPS was translated into Portuguese by two bilingual researchers.
After this, the version was adapted by one researcher and this translation was sent to six bilingual researchers to evaluate
whether the terms of the scale were appropriate for the cultural aspects of each region.
Results: the resulting items were translated back into English by a professional translator and sent to the original
scales author to ensure that the original item content had been retained. The final translation of the UPPS and the original
English version were administered to a sample of 52 bilingual subjects in order to investigate the semantic and idiomatic
equivalence of the translated version through correlation analysis.
Conclusions: Spearman correlations between the original items and the translated items were all significant, p <0.001,
with correlations ranging from moderate to strong. These results suggest that the Brazilian Portuguese translation of the
scale accurately replicated the original scale.
Key words: impulsivity, psychometrics, scale, personality
Corresponding author
Cristina Yumi Nogueira Sediyama
Instituto Nacional de Cincia e Tecnologia de Medicina Molecular Av. Professor Alfredo Balena, 190 Bairro
Santa Efignia Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais Brasil CEP: 30.130-100
79
Introduction
Impulsivity is a complex phenotype that is include
in most models of personality (Costa & McCrae 1992,
Zuckerman 1994, Patton, Stanford & Barrat 1995,
Whiteside & Lynam 2001) that has been defined in
many different ways. For instance, impulsivity has
been broadly defined as quick unplanned action that
leads to thoughtless behaviors and a tendency to act
with a lower level of planning compared to individuals
of similar intellectual level (Moeller et al. 2001). On the
other hand Dickman (1990) has differentiated between
functional impulsivity (i.e. the performance of fast
and efficient responses in situations that require quick
decisions), and dysfunctional impulsivity (a tendency
to act with less care than most people of equal capacity.
The term impulsivity is contained in the criteria of many
psychiatric diagnoses within the DSM-IV. For instance,
impulsivity may be found in disorders such as attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder, substance abuse, major
depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, eating
disorders and bipolar affective disorder (Grant &
Potenza 2006, Mally-Diniz et al. 2007, Perroud 2011,
Tziortzis 2011). In addition, impulsivity is involved
in many personality disorders and some researches
consider it an independent subgroup (Costa & McCrae
1992, Zuckerman 1994, Patton, Stanford & Barrat
1995, Whiteside & Lynam 2001).
Multiple scales are used in the literature for
assessment of impulsivity, and several phenomena that
are classified together with the term impulsivity, but
that lead to different forms of impulsive behavior (i.e.
Dickman 1990, Zuckerman 1994, Patton, Stanford &
Barrat 1995). This lack of a common definition about
the construct of impulsivity may be one of the factors
that often refrains progress toward the understanding
of impulsive behavior (Eveden 1999). Accordingly,
to assess the nature of impulsivity dimensions and
add clarity to the field, Whiteside & Lynam (2001)
conducted a factor analysis with the most used measures
of impulsivity found in literature and the Five-Factor
Model of Personality (McCrae & Costa, 1990) was used
to understand the concept of impulsivity. The resulting
measure, the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale, consists
of found factors labeled: a) urgency (tendency to
experience strong impulses, frequently under conditions
of negative affect), b) lack of premeditation (tendency
not to think about the consequences of an act before
engaging in it); c) lack of perseverance (lack of ability
of an individual to stay focused on a task that can
be boring or difficult); d) sensation seeking (composed
by the tendency to search for activities that are exciting,
as well as an openness to try new experiences that can
be dangerous or not).
The potential for the UPPS to standardize the
assessment of impulsivity is supported by its successful
translation into many different languages including for
example, French and German (Van Liden et al. 2006,
Schmidt 2008). In addition, impulsivity is a construct
that is present in the major part of neuropsychiatric
disorders, that, for example, is related with suicidal
and addiction behavior, disadvantage making decision
that is part of compulsive symptoms, so, have this
questionnaire available in portuguese, means to have
a standardized instrument to measure in an objective
way, the impulsivity (Clark, Robbins, Ersche, &
Sahakian 2006; Malloy-Diniz et al 2009; Perroud,
Baud, Mouthon, Courtet, & Malafosse 2011).
However, there are few instruments to access
impulsivity in Brazilian population (i.e. Malloy-Diniz
80
Method
The adaptation and validation of the scale UPPS
was approved by the Ethics Committee of Universidade
Federal de Minas Gerais.
Translation
The translation method of the UPPS impulsive
behavior scale was based on Article adaptation and
translation of the Portuguese version of the BIS11 (Malloy-Diniz et al 2010). First, the original
English version of the UPPS was translated by two
native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese who, made
independent translations. These procedures where
intended to minimization errors of translations and
diverging interpretations of terms, reducing potential
biases. After that, the scale was unified and reviewed in
a version by a researcher for the scale was sent a group
of six experts in the area from five different states and
regions in Brazil (Minas Gerais, So Paulo, Rio Grande
do Sul, Gois, Rio Grande do Norte, Rondnia). This
group of researchers was instructed to avoid included
items in the Brazilian version of the scale that presented
any regional bias. Some items have been changed to
better match the Brazilian language. However, no
difference between the cultural regions was found.
After the experts suggestions were incorporated the
items were back-translated into English by a native U.
S. translator fluent both in Portuguese and in English.
The author of the original instrument then compared the
original version with the back-translation, and changes
were made to maintain the semantic equivalence of the
two versions.
Scale analysis
To determine whether the Brazilian Portuguese
version performed similarly to the original version,
both scales were administered to a bilingual sample.
Participants
The original version and the Brazilian Portuguese
version were administered to a sample of 52 Brazilian
participants. This sample was composed of participants
who had International English Certificate of Proficiency.
The participants had a mean age of 27.95 years (SD
= 7.85), and 36 were female. The English version
was first applied, and after a period of 7 days the
Portuguese version was completed in order to decrease
the likelihood that the participants remembered the
previous items and their answers.
Table 1. Procedures for translation and adaptation of Impulsive Behavior Scale (UPPS)
1
2
3
Original Version
Final Version
Eu geralmente busco
experincias excitantes e
sensaes novas.
Eu geralmente gosto de ver as
coisas finalizadas
Minha maneira de pensar
normalmente cuidadosa e
voltada a um objetivo
Eu tenho dificuldade em resistir
aos meus desejos (por comida,
cigarros, etc.)
Eu quero experimentar de tudo
pelo menos uma vez
Eu tenho a tendncia de desistir
facilmente
Eu no sou daquelas pessoas que
falam coisas sem pensar
Eu frequentemente me envolvo
em coisas das quais, mais tarde,
gostaria de escapar
Eu gosto de esportes e jogos nos
quais voc precisa escolher sua
prxima jogada rapidamente
Tarefas inacabadas realmente me
aborrecem
Eu gosto de parar e pensar sobre
as coisas antes de faz-las
Quando me sinto mal, no
intuito de me fazer sentir bem
rapidamente, normalmente fao
coisas das quais me arrependo
mais tarde
Eu gostaria de surfar
Quando comeo a fazer algo,
detesto parar.
Eu no gosto de iniciar um
projeto at que eu saiba
exatamente como realiz-lo
s vezes quando me sinto mal,
no consigo parar de fazer o que
estou fazendo, mesmo que isto
esteja me fazendo sentir pior
Eu realmente gosto de me
arriscar
Eu me concentro com facilidade
81
Table 1. Continued
21 I would enjoy parachute
jumping
22 I finish what I start
Eu gostaria de saltar de
I would like to try
paraquedas
parachuting
Eu termino o que comeo I finish what I start
I have a tendency of
following a rational and
reasonable perspective
towards everything
When Im upset, I frequently
act without thinking
Eu tenho a tendncia de
valorizar e seguir uma viso
racional e sensata das coisas
27 I usually make up my
mind through careful
reasoning
28 When I feel rejected, I
will often say things that
I later regret
Eu normalmente tomo
minhas decises aps pensar
cuidadosamente
Quando eu me sinto rejeitado, eu
frequentemente digo coisas das
quais eu me arrependo depois
I am a cautious person
Eu normalmente tomo
minhas decises aps
pensar cuidadosamente
Quando eu me
sinto rejeitado, eu
frequentemente direi
coisas das quais eu me
arrependerei depois
29 I would like to learn to
Eu gostaria de aprender a
fly an airplane
pilotar avies
30 I am a person who always Eu sou uma pessoa que
gets the job done
sempre termina minhas
tarefas
31 I am a cautious person
Sou uma pessoa
cautelosa
32 It is hard for me to resist difcil para eu resistir
acting on my feelings
em agir baseado em meus
sentimentos
33 I sometimes like doing
Eu s vezes gosto de
fazer coisas um pouco
things that are a bit
frightening
amedrontadoras
34 I almost always finish
Eu quase sempre termino
projects that I start
os projetos que comeo
35 Before I get into a new
Antes de me envolver
situation I like to find out em uma nova situao
gosto de descobrir o que
what to expect from it
esperar dela
36 I often make matters
Eu frequentemente torno
worse because I act
as coisas piores porque
without thinking when I ajo sem pensar quando
estou chateado
am upset
37 I would enjoy the
Eu gostaria de desfrutar
a sensao de descer
sensation of skiing
velozmente de esqui uma
very fast down a high
mountain slope
montanha ngreme
38 Sometimes there are so
s vezes existem tantas
many little things to be
pequenas coisas para
done that I just ignore
serem feitas que eu
them all
simplesmente ignoro
todas elas
39 I usually think carefully Eu frequentemente penso
before doing anything
cautelosamente antes de
fazer qualquer coisa
82
Eu frequentemente torno os
problemas piores porque ajo sem
pensar quando estou chateado
Eu costumo pensar
cuidadosamente antes de fazer
qualquer coisa
Table 1. Continued
40 Before making up my
mind, I consider all
the advantages and
disadvantages
41 In the heat of an argument,
I will often say things that
I later regret
Antes de decidir, eu
I consider all pros and cons
considero todas as
before making a decision
vantagens e desvantagens
Instrument
The UPPS is a self-report scale which consists of 45
items that address the four personality factors associated
with impulsive behavior in a likert-type format ranging
from 0 to 4, which represent: (1) strongly agree, (2)
partially agree; (3) partially disagree and (4) strongly
disagree. Besides the total scores of impulsivity, the
UPPS also provides the subscale scores of each subtype
of impulsivity: lack of premeditation (items 1, 5, 9, 13,
17, 23, 27, 31, 35, 39 , 40) and urgency (items: 2 *, 6 *,
10 *, 14 *, 18 *, 24 *, 28 *, 32 *, 36 *, 41 *, 43, 45 *),
sensation seeking (items: 3 * 7 * 11 * 15 * 19 * 21 * 25
* 29 * 33 * 37 * 42 * 44 *), and lack of perseverance
(items: 4, 8 *, 12, 16, 20, 22, 26, 30, 34, 38 *)1.
Data analysis
The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to
determine the normal distribution of data, and the
result demonstrate p <0.01, which showed that the
distributions of UPPS scores in each group do not tend
to be normal. Accordingly this, to judge the relevance of
the Portuguese version compared to the original version
of the scale we calculated the Spearman correlation
coefficients between the original and the translated
answers. Significant correlations were defined by p <
0.001. Quantitative analyses were performed using
SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version
17.0.
To compare the performance between Portuguese
and English versions, was conducted the Wilcoxon test
comparing the four factors of the UPPS Behavior Scale,
being adopted the significance level (p value) of 0.05.
Results
The results were obtained through the translation
of the scale, the back translation, and after that, the
final version of the scale was based on suggestions
meus
1
Items marked with sign * get reverse score for the
calculation of partial and total scores (4 = 1, 3 = 2, 2 = 1, 1 = 4).
83
Correlation
0.672
0.776
0.543
0.619
0.557
0.845
0.631
0.756
0.601
0.724
0.892
0.586
0.687
0.597
0.562
0.729
0.551
0.753
0.629
0.849
0.948
0.753
0.487
0.649
0.778
0.569
0.537
0.637
0.900
0.733
0.667
0.611
0.775
0.511
0.670
0.551
0.666
0.687
0.500
0.659
0.609
0.831
0.586
0.784
0.687
p-value
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
< 0.001
Discussion
The Brazilian adaptation of the UPPS reflects
the increasing use of the scale for assessment of
impulsivity. Although there is still a lack of research
addressing the most consistent neurobiological
correlation with the facets of impulsivity in the model
84
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