A critical examination of multidimensionality within the Hypomanic Personality Scale

Abstract

Background: The Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS) assesses bipolar spectrum psychopathology and risk for bipolar disorders. Despite the developers' intent to create a scale that provides a unitary score, several studies have examined whether the HPS has a multidimensional structure. These models have been unable to identify a replicable multidimensional structure, with models varying from fairly similar to entirely dissimilar, and have suffered from theoretical and methodological concerns. Procedures: We therefore examined the multidimensional structure of the HPS in a large undergraduate and adult sample (n = 5002). Main findings: We failed to reproduce factors with equal congruence to those of previously published models. Principle conclusions: We concluded that the HPS lacks factorial validity in previous research as a multidimensional measure of bipolar spectrum psychopathology. We further recommend the creation of a novel multidimensional assessment of bipolar spectrum psychopathology developed from a theoretically driven, comprehensive model, rather than examining a multidimensional model of a pre-existing measure, such as the HPS.

Keywords

• Bipolar spectrum psychopathology
• Bipolar disorders
• Psychometric assessment
• Multidimensional
• Factor analysis