Bertil Törestad

A Swedish translation of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale: Cross-validation of the factor structure.

The purpose of this study was to develop a new Swedish translation of the twenty-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and to examine if the theoretical structure that underlies the factor structure of the English version of the TAS-20 could be recovered in this Swedish translation of the instrument. A sample of 157 undergraduate students of psychology was tested. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the previously established three-factor TAS-20 model was found to be replicable in this sample. In addition, the Swedish translation of the TAS-20 showed adequate internal reliability. The present study also illustrates the importance of using back translation methodology when transposing psychometric instruments from one language to another.

What is anger provoking? A psychophysical study of perceived causes of anger

From a pool of nearly 900 situations, anonymously described by young people from prepuberty to adolescence as anger provoking, 60 situations were randomly drawn. Twelve advanced students of psychology independently rated the similarity between each possible pair of situations with respect to the perceived cause of anger. The resultant averaged similarity matrix was subjected to factor analysis, and ten factors were deemed an optimal solution, both psychologically and statistically. The factor structure is described and discussed, and other findings of situational dimensions, not made explicit by the factor analysis, are also discussed.

Factor structure and validity of the Affect Intensity Measure in a Swedish sample

Abstract Despite the fact that Larsen’s [Larsen, R.J. (1984). Theory and measurement of affect intensity as an individual difference characteristic. Dissertation Abstracts International . 85 , 2297B (University Microfilms No. 84-22112.)] Affect Intensity Measure (AIM) is a widely used measure of affect intensity, there is an ongoing debate concerning certain of its presumed theoretical and statistical qualities and its basic, underlying assumptions. The debate has most often centered around the inventory’s dimensionality; i.e., is the AIM tapping one or more dimensions of intensity? The purpose of the present study was to investigate the dimensional structure of the Swedish translation of the AIM, to find the best structural model for the Swedish AIM data, and to study its validity. Data from 409 subjects (153 males, 256 females) were subjected to maximum-likelihood confirmatory factor analysis to assess how well different structural models fit the AIM data. The results showed that all of the multidimensional AIM models were superior to Larsen’s original 40-item uni-dimensional model, on all the fit indices. The best-fitting model was a newly derived three-factor model, based on 27 items resulting in the factors Positive Affectivity, Negative Intensity, and Negative reactivity. Validation of this model in a community sample of 208 adults clearly showed different correlational patterns between negative intensity and negative reactivity, on the one hand, and positive affectivity, on the other, which demonstrates the value of treating affect intensity as a multidimensional construct.

Verbal Intelligence: a key to basic skills?

Summary Intra‐individual variability of cognitive measures, such as verbal and spatial ability tests, has frequently been reported to typify learning disabled children. To test the generality of such findings, longitudinal data from a large representative and non‐clinical sample of Swedish children (n = 812) were analysed. At age 10, the children were tested with a Swedish intelligence scale. At age 13, basic academic skills were measured by standardised achievement tests. Typical cognitive profile types, based on the verbal and spatial intelligence subtests, were identified through cluster analyses (CLUSTAN) of the girl and boy samples separately. The satisfactory solution arrived at was a five‐cluster representation for the girls (n = 497) and an eight‐cluster representation for the boys (n = 497). For both sexes, verbally as well as spatially oriented profiles emerged. However, the verbal orientation was more pronounced for girls, whereas the boys displayed greater variability and stronger spatial orie...

COPING, CONTROL, AND EXPERIENCE OF ANXIETY: AN INTERACTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract A group of 17-year-olds, boys and girls, were presented 20 situations of various types, all empirically known to provoke anxiety. Different types of situations were distinguished by different activating factors in combination with various feared outcomes. The subjects reported anxiety reactions, perceived behavior and predictive control, and the coping behavior they would choose in relation to each situation. Choice of coping solutions—constructive, passive or escape—was found to be dependent on the perceived level of anxiety, perceived behavior and perceived predictive control. Individuals were assigned to groups, according to their most preferred coping solution. When such groups were studied in interaction with different types of situations, significant effects on self-reported anxiety, behavior control and predictive control were found. Certain sex differences were also found. It is concluded that both situational and individual characteristics must be taken into account when individual behav...

Using the Karolinska Scales of Personality on male juvenile delinquents: relationships between scales and factor structure.

The aim of the present study was to investigate relationships between scales from the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP) and the factor structure of the KSP in a sample of male juvenile delinquents. The KSP was administered to a group of male juvenile delinquents (n=55, mean age 17 years; standard deviation = 1.2) from four Swedish national correctional institutions for serious offenders. As expected, the KSP showed appropriate correlations between the scales. Factor analysis (maximum likelihood) arrived at a four-factor solution in this sample, which is in line with previous research performed in a non-clinical sample of Swedish males. More research is needed in a somewhat larger sample of juvenile delinquents in order to confirm the present results regarding the factor solution.

Individual Control, Intensity of Reactions and Frequency of Occurrence: An Empirical Study of Cross-Culturally Invariant Relationships

To investigate the relations between behavioral control, predictive control, intensity of reaction, and frequency of occurrence, the Multisituational-Multireaction Inventory was administered to 452 17-yr.-old youngsters in Hungary, Italy, and Yemen. Data were analyzed to allow an interpretation of the factors both as personal characteristics and situational properties. The main findings for situations were that situations frequently reported as anxiety-provoking were associated with low anxiety and high behavioral control. For individuals, those with a high sense of behavioral control also experienced lower anxiety. Individuals with a high sense of predictive control tended to report more exposures to the aversive situations. The fruitfulness of this two-way analysis of the same data (persons and situations) is emphasized.

Basic Skills, Early Problematic Behaviour and Social Maladjustment

Summary The focus of this study is on the role of basic skills (defined as the summed results of national achievement test scores in Swedish and mathematics) in boys’ social developmental process. With reference to a holistic model for individual functioning and development, the aim of the investigation was obtained by studying the relationships between basic skilb and early problematic behaviour at the age of 10, on the one hand, and later social maladjustment, manifest in the presence in official registers for alcohol problems, crime and psychiatric disorders, on the other. Based on data concerning basic skills and six teacher‐rated behaviours (aggressive behaviour, motor restlessness, shyness, disharmony, concentration difficulties, and overambi‐tion), boys with similar profiles across the seven factors were grouped together using cluster analysis. Six clusters were deemed an optimal solution. Register data for alcohol problems, crime and psychiatric diagnoses were available with no attrition. For each...