Hypomania: a transcultural perspective.
This study examined the transcultural robustness of a screening instrument for hypomania, the Hypomania Checklist-32, first revised version (HCL-32 R1). It was carried out in 2606 patients from twelve countries in five geographic regions (Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe, South America and East Asia). In addition, GAMIAN Europe contributed data from its members. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to examine the transregional stability of the measurement properties of the HCL-32 R1, including the influence of sex and age as covariates. Across cultures, a two-factor structure was confirmed: the first factor (F1) reflected the more positive aspects of hypomania (being more active, elated, self-confident, and cogni-tively enhanced); the second factor (F2) reflected the more negative aspects (being irritable, impulsive, careless, more substance use). The measurement properties of the HCL-32 R1 were largely invariant across cultures. Only few items showed transcultural differences in their relation to hypomania as measured by the test. F2 was higher among men and in more severe manic syndromes; F1 was highest in North and East Europe and lowest in South America. The scores decreased slightly with age. The frequency of the 32 items showed remarkable similarities across geographic areas, with two excep-tions: South Europeans had lower symptom frequencies in general and East Europeans higher rates of substance use. These findings support the interna-tional applicability of the HCL-32 R1 as a screening instrument for hypomania.
Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, P.O. Box 68, CH-8029 Zurich, Switzerland.
Jules
J
Angst
Thomas D
TD
Meyer
Rolf
R
Adolfsson
Peter
P
Skeppar
Mauro
M
Carta
Franco
F
Benazzi
Ru-Band
RB
Lu
Yi-Hsuan
YH
Wu
Hai-Chen
HC
Yang
Cheng-Mei
CM
Yuan
Paolo
P
Morselli
Peter
P
Brieger
Judith
J
Katzmann
Ines Alice
IA
Teixeira Leão
José Alberto
JA
Del Porto
Doris
D
Hupfeld Moreno
Ricardo A
RA
Moreno
Odeilton T
OT
Soares
Eduard
E
Vieta
Alex
A
Gamma