Impulsividad, un constructo multifacético: validación del CUBI

Abstract

The concept of impulsivity, widely used in psychological literature, has different meanings that are not always made explicit by the authors who use it. This creates conflicting conclusions between research with diverse theoretical lines, due to the fact that they are using different conceptions of impulsivity. In this study, a number of twelve scales that measure constructs related to impulsivityhave been analyzed, in order to find the lesser possible amount of factors to which the involved items could be reduced. The sample consisted of 675 volunteers from the population of Capital Federal (57% women). To evaluatepersonality and traits of impulsivity, the following were applied: four sub-scales from the Temperament and Character Inventory - Revised (TCI-R), four sub-scales from the Neuroticism, Extraversion and Openness to Experience Personality Inventory - Revised (NEO-PIR) and four sub-scales from the Urgency, Premeditation, Perseverance Sensation Seeking (UPPS) Questionnaire. An exploratory factorial analysis was applied to reduce the twelve scales. Omega´s coefficient was applied to estimate the internal consistency of the scales. The analyzed scales can be reduced to three major factors. The factorsfound are called impulsivity by improvidence, sensation seeking and compulsive urgency. The resulting instrument has been named Urgency, Sensation Seeking and Impulsivity Questionnaire (CUBI, in Spanish).