Personalità di Tipo D, un costrutto rilevante in cardiologia. Studio preliminare di validazione del questionario italiano

Type D personality, a joint tendency toward negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition (SI), is related to poor cardiac prognosis. The Type D Scale 14 (DS14) is a psychometrically sound measure for assessing Type D. This study reports on the preliminary validation process of the Italian DS14. 145 cardiac patients completed the DS14, the Eysenck Personality Inventory, Nevroticism and Extraversion subscales, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Depression Questionnaire. 30 patients filled out the DS14 twice. Factor analysis of the Italian DS14 confirmed the 2 dominant traits of the original scale: NA explaining 38% and SI 18% of the total variance. All of the NA and SI items loaded between 0.46 to 0.80 on their corresponding factor. The NA and SI scales were internally consistent (Cronbach's alpha 0.82 and 0.80), stable over a 30-days period (test-retest r = 0.62 and 0.81). As regards validity, NA correlated positively with neuroticism (r = 0.69); SI correlated negatively with extraversion (r = -0.66). Using a cut-off of 9 (NA = 9 and SI = 9), 41 subjects (28%) were classified as Type D. They scored higher than non Type D on both depression and anxiety (p <0.0001). The Italian DS14 is a brief, psychometrically sound measure of negative affectivity and social inhibition that could be useful in both epidemiologic and clinical research.