Psychometric properties and utility of the Responses to Positive Affect questionnaire (RPA) in a sample of people with bipolar disorder.

Objectives: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Responses to Positive Affect (RPA) questionnaire in a sample of persons with bipolar disorder (BD).

Method: Cross-sectional survey study with 107 persons with BD. The original 3-factor model of the RPA was compared with a 2-factor model. Construct validity was determined with measures of well-being, personal recovery, social role participation, and psychopathology and incremental validity was evaluated.

Results: The fit of the 3-factor model was acceptable for most fit indices. Subscores of the RPA revealed a significant relationship with aspects of well-being, personal recovery, and psychopathology. Dampening and self-focused positive rumination explained additional variance in personal recovery above and beyond well-being.

Conclusions: The RPA is an internally consistent and valid tool to assess positive emotion regulation processes in persons with BD. Specifically, the processes of dampening and emotion-focused positive rumination seem to play an important role in BD.