Factor structure of the French version of the Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS) in non-clinical young adults.

Background: Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS) is a self-report questionnaire designed to identify vulnerable individuals at high risk of bipolar disorders in non-clinical samples. Our aim was to identify the factorial structure of HPS in a French non-clinical sample and to compare this with different factor solutions described in the literature. We carried out a survey in a French population using a French version of HPS.

Methods: A total of 698 participants were included in the study. They completed the HPS, the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-B), the Positive And Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). We tested the 1, 3 and 4-factor solutions and used a Confirmatory Factor Analysis to compare these with the factor solutions suggested by Rawling et al. and Schalet et al.

Results: Goodness-of-fit indices showed that Schalet et al.'s solution "fits" our data better than Rawling et al.'s factorial solutions. HPS scores correlated with the PANAS Positive score and the SPQ-B total score. We confirmed the 3-factor structure of the HPS in a large non-clinical population of young adults and found consistent correlations with BDI, affectivity and schizotypal traits.