Psychometric Properties of the Attitudes toward Self-Revised in Italian Young Adults

Abstract EN

Objectives and Methods.

Several researchers have provided support for the critical role of cognitive vulnerabilities in the development of depression.

The Attitudes toward Self-Revised (ATS-R) was designed to assess three potential self-regulatory vulnerabilities to depression: High Standards (HS), Self-Criticism (SC), and Negative Generalization (NG).

The aim of the study was to assess the psychometric properties of the ATS-R in the Italian young adult population.

The ATS-R, the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), and the Teate Depression Inventory (TDI) were administered to 857 (320 men and 537 women) young adults.

Results.

The best-fitting solution for the ATS-R was a 2-factor model, which obtained satisfactory homogeneity of content (HS/SC: Cronbach α=0.81; mean interitem correlation = 0.46.

NG: Cronbach α=0.75; mean interitem correlation = 0.43) and significant correlation with the BDI-II (NG: Pearson r=0.29, P<0.01), the TDI (HS/SC: Pearson r=−0.26, P<0.01), and the BHS (HS/SC: Pearson r=−0.29, P<0.01; NG: Pearson r=0.22, P<0.01).

Conclusions.

The Italian version of the ATS-R seems to be a valid instrument for the study of the role of cognitive tendencies as potential vulnerability for depression.