Stability of the factor structure of Barrat's Impulsivity Scales for children across cultures: a comparison of Spain and Colombia

Despite the great importance of impulsivity in many childhood and adolescence disorders, there are few self-reports on child impulsivity. Recently, a modified version of Barratt's BIS-11 questionnaire adapted for children has been developed, which may be useful in assessing this personality dimension. The present study reports an adaptation of this questionnaire in a different culture (Colombia) and assesses the degree of convergence between the factor structures of both adaptations using consensus oblimin rotation. The results indicate not only that the factor structure of the test remains stable across both adaptations, and that two of the three scales in the Colombian version show acceptable reliabilities, but also that cultural and linguistic issues are important in test adaptation even when the same language is used.