Table 1
Characteristics of existing irritability questionnaires.
| QUESTIONNAIRE | NUMBER OF ITEMS | REPORTING SOURCE | POPULATION | STATE OR TRAIT IRRITABILITY | STRUCTURE OF IRRITABILITY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory Irritability Subscale – Buss & Durkee, 1957 | 11 | Self-report | Adults | Trait | Unidimensional |
| Children’s Hostility Inventory Irritability Subscale – Kazdin et al., 1987 | 6 | Parent- and teacher-report | Children | Trait | Unidimensional |
| Irritability, Depression, Anxiety Scale (IDA) – Snaith et al., 1978 | 8 | Self-report | Adult patients suffering from affective disorders | State (past 2 days) | Bidimensional (i.e., Inwardly or Outwardly directed) |
| Caprara Irritability Scale (CIS) – Caprara et al., 1985 | 30 | Self-report | Adults | Trait | Unidimensional |
| Burns Irritability Apathy Scale – Burns et al., 1990 | 5 | Patients’ relative-report | Patients suffering from Huntington or Alzheimer disease | State (since the onset of the illness) | Unidimensional |
| Irritability Questionnaire (IRQ) – Craig et al., 2008 | 21 | Self- and carer-report | Patients suffering from affective disorders, Huntington, or Alzheimer disease | State (past 2 weeks) | Multidimensional (i.e., Emotional, Cognitive, and Behavioral) |
| Born Steiner Irritability Scale (BSIS) – Born et al., 2008 | 14 | Self- and observer- report | Women suffering from female-specific mood disorders (i.e., premenstrual, perinatal, and perimenopausal mood disorders) | State (past week) | Unidimensional |
| I-Epi – Piazzini et al., 2011 | 18 | Self-report | Adult patients suffering from epilepsy | State | Multidimensional (i.e., Physical, Verbal, Temperamental, and Epilepsy functioning) |
| Affective Reactivity Index (ARI) – Stringaris et al., 2012a | 7 | Self- and parent-report | Children and adolescents (clinical population and community) Preschoolers (Sugaya et al., 2021) | State (past 6 months) | Unidimensional |
| Brief Irritability Test (BITe) – Holtzman et al., 2015 | 5 | Self-report | Adults (clinical population and community) | State | Unidimensional |
| The Cranky Thermometers – Melvin et al., 2018 | 2 | Self-report | Adolescents (clinical population and community) | State (current and past two weeks) | Unidimensional |
Table 2
Socio-demographic characteristics of the sample.
| CHARACTERISTICS | M(SD), N, OR % | |
|---|---|---|
| Age | 28.31 (12.81) | |
| Gender (Female/Male) | 312/101 | |
| Level of education | Primary school | 0.7% |
| High school | 24.9% | |
| Bachelor | 43.8% | |
| Master | 29.5% | |
| Ph.D. | 1.1% | |
| Professional status | Student | 55.4% |
| Worker | 41.2% | |
| Unemployed | 2.7% | |
| Retired | 0.7% |
Figure 1
The TCI scores of respondents displayed as a histogram.
Note: TCI = Test Court d’Irritabilité (French Brief Irritability Test).
Table 3
Rotated factor loadings from the exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analyses of the TCI items in two split samples.
| DESCRIPTION OF ITEM CONTENT | EFA RESULTS IN SAMPLE 1 (n = 209) | CFA RESULTS IN SAMPLE 2 (n = 204) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| FACTOR « IRRITABILITY » | |||
| 5. | Je me sens irritable | .81 | .86 |
| 1. | J’ai été grincheux | .75 | .78 |
| 3. | D’autres personnes m’énervent | .80 | .62 |
| 4. | Des choses me dérangent plus qu’elles le font d’habitude | .78 | .60 |
| 2. | J’ai eu l’impression que j’allais craquer | .55 | .60 |
[i] Note: EFA = Exploratory Factor Analysis; CFA = Confirmatory Factor Analysis; TCI = Test Court d’Irritabilité (French Brief Irritability Test).
Table 4
Sample size, internal consistency coefficients, means, standard deviations for the TCI and measures of associated constructs.
| QUESTIONNAIRES | N | α | M | SD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TCI | 413 | .80 | 15.36 | 3.87 |
| BDI-13 | 413 | .81 | 5.96 | 4.78 |
| CAS | 413 | .84 | 8.17 | 6.21 |
| NEO PI-R : anger subscale | 413 | .73 | 22.98 | 5.11 |
| AQ | 413 | .76 | 25.15 | 7.32 |
| Physical Aggression | 413 | .73 | 4.98 | 2.54 |
| Verbal Aggression | 413 | .45 | 6.92 | 2.26 |
| Hostility | 413 | .71 | 6.23 | 3.02 |
| Anger | 413 | .71 | 7.01 | 2.93 |
| SWLS | 413 | .86 | 24.34 | 6.47 |
| SSQ – Availability | 413 | .88 | 25.93 | 11.58 |
| SSQ – Satisfaction | 413 | .91 | 29.20 | 5.61 |
[i] Note: TCI = Test Court d’Irritabilité (French Brief Irritability Test); BDI-13 = Beck Depression Inventory 13 items; CAS = Clinical Anger Scale; NEO PI-R = Revised NEO Personality Inventory; AQ = Aggression Questionnaire; SWLS = Satisfaction with Life Scale; SSQ = Social Support Questionnaire.
Table 5
Correlations between TCI and associated constructs.
| TCI | P VALUE | |
|---|---|---|
| BDI-13 | .56 | <.001 |
| CAS | .59 | <.001 |
| NEO PI-R – Anger subscale | .54 | <.001 |
| AQ total | .45 | <.001 |
| AQ (Physical aggression) | .08 | 0.123 |
| AQ (Hostility) | .40 | <.001 |
| AQ (Anger) | .49 | <.001 |
| SWLS | –.39 | <.001 |
| SSQ – Availability | –.31 | <.001 |
| SSQ – Satisfaction | –.23 | <.001 |
[i] Note: TCI = Test Court d’Irritabilité (French Brief Irritability Test); BDI-13 = Beck Depression Inventory 13 items; CAS = Clinical Anger Scale; NEO PI-R = Revised NEO Personality Inventory; AQ = Aggression Questionnaire; SWLS = Satisfaction with Life Scale; SSQ = Social Support Questionnaire.
Table 6
Results from the hierarchical regression analysis using the TCI to predict depression scores (N = 413).
| INDEX | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEPENDENT VARIABLE: DEPRESSION (BDI 13) | B | SE B | β | T |
| Step 1 (R2 = .016) | ||||
| Gender | –.014 | –.328 | ||
| Step 2 (R2 = .035) | ||||
| Age | –.030 | –.703 | ||
| Step 3 (R2 = .046) | ||||
| Education | –.039 | –.941 | ||
| Step 4 (R2 = .312) | ||||
| TCI | .69 | .051 | .558 | 13.643* |
[i] Note: TCI = Test Court d’Irritabilité (French Brief Irritability Test); BDI-13 = Beck Depression Inventory 13 items.
* p < .001.
Appendix 1
Test Court d’Irritabilité. Consigne: Veuillez indiquer à quelle fréquence vous vous êtes senti(e) ou vous êtes comporté(e) de la manière suivante, au cours des deux dernières semaines, y compris aujourd’hui.
| JAMAIS | RAREMENT | PARFOIS | SOUVENT | TRÈS SOUVENT | TOUJOURS | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | J’ai été grincheux. | ||||||
| 2. | J’ai eu l’impression que j’allais craquer. | ||||||
| 3. | D’autres personnes m’énervent. | ||||||
| 4. | Des choses me dérangent plus qu’elles le font d’habitude. | ||||||
| 5. | Je me sens irritable. |