PhD Scientific Days 2023

Mental Health Sciences - Posters N

Psychometric Properties of the Hungarian version of the Disgust Scale-Revised (DS-R)

Text of the abstract

Introduction: Disgust is a basic emotion that is thought to play a role in the development of various psychiatric disorders. Previous studies found that disgust is associated with anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and personality traits such as neuroticism and conscientiousness. The most commonly used disgust measure in the literature is the Disgust Scale-Revised (DS-R).
Aims: The aim of the current study was to translate the DS-R into Hungarian and examine its psychometric properties in a sample of university students.
Method: 235 participants (210 females, mean age = 29.88, SD = 8.87) were assessed with questionnaires measuring different disgust-related constructs, general psychopathology, and maladaptive personality traits. Competing one-, two-, and three-factor models were tested using confirmatory factor analyses, and models were compared using chi-square difference tests. Internal consistency was examined using Cronbach’s alphas. In order to examine the test-retest reliability of the DS-R, a subsample of the participants (104 students) was reassessed with the DS-R approximately four weeks after the first administration. External validity was tested by inspecting correlations between the DS-R and other disgust-related, general psychopathology, and maladaptive personality trait measures.
Results: Both the two- (χ2(274) = 447.335, χ2/df =1.63, CFI = .892, TLI = .882, RMSEA = .052, 90% CI = [.043, .060]) and the three-factor models (χ2(272) = 444.250, χ2/df = 1.63, CFI = .893, TLI = .882, RMSEA = .052, 90% CI = [.043, .061]) showed a good fit to the data. However, the chi-square difference test between the models was not significant (χ2(2) = 4.436, p = .109), thus the two-factor model was retained for further analyses. The two subscales (core disgust, animal-reminder disgust) were moderately intercorrelated (r = .62). Adequate internal consistency was found for the full scale (α = .82) and for the subscales (α = .75–.78). Furthermore, the DS-R (ICC = .91) and its subscales (ICC = .88–.93) showed excellent test-retest reliability. Finally, the DS-R exhibited significant and meaningful associations with related constructs.
Conclusion: We conclude that the Hungarian version of the DS-R is a psychometrically sound measure. Further studies involving psychiatric patients with various diagnoses are needed.
Funding: None.