Post Traumatic Reactions as Individual Differences: Latent Structure Analysis of the International Trauma Questionnaire in Italian Trauma-Exposed and Non-Trauma Exposed Adults

To evaluate the internal consistency and factor structure of the Italian translation of the 12-item International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ), 382 trauma-exposed and 366 non-trauma exposed Italian community-dwelling Italian adults from a total group of 748 volunteers completed the ITQ. The ITQ Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Disorder of Self-Organization scales showed adequate Cronbach’s as in both trauma-exposed and non-trauma-exposed participants. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the a priori model of item-to-scale assignment of the ITQ items was consistently reproduced in both trauma-exposed and non-trauma-exposed participants, even when measurement invariance was formally assessed. Finally, taxometric analyses showed that the latent distribution of the six ITQ PTSD symptom items should be conceived as a latent dimension rather than a categorical latent construct. As a whole, our findings supported to the cross-cultural validity of the ITQ while extending its clinical usefulness

Executive Functioning and Personality Traits in Insomnia Disorder: A Preliminary Report on the Clinical Importance of Objective and Subjective Reduction of Total Sleep Time

To confirm and extend previous findings on the relationships between executive functioning (EF) and insomnia, as well as the available evidence on the associations between personality traits and insomnia, 30 consecutively-admitted insomnia participants and 30 community dwelling adult participants matched on age, gender and educational level, were administered a battery of EF measures and the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5). Insomnia participants underwent two full-night polysomnographic (PSG) recording, followed by a morning assessment of subjective sleep parameters. A misperception index (MI) was computed in order to identify participants characterized by objective insomnia and non-objective insomnia. The EF performance associations between insomnia and poor performance on selected executive functions was confirmed. However, the objective insomnia and non-objective insomnia sub-groups show significant differences on specific EF indices, as well as on dysfunctional personality dimensions

Assessing Sleep Habits in Italian Community-Dwelling Adolescents: Psychometric Properties of the School Sleep Habits Survey Scales

Background. In the field of adolescent sleep research, different sleep surveys have been implemented; however, psychometric properties of these instruments have been investigated only minimally. Methods. In order to assess the psychometric properties of the Sleep–Wake Problems Behaviour Scale (SWP), the Sleepiness Scale (SLS), and the Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire (ME), a moderately large sample of community-dwelling Italian adolescents (N = 778; 59.8% female; mean age = 15.77 years) was administered the Italian translation of the School Sleep Habits Survey. Results. Internal consistency estimates values were satisfactory for all measures; dimensionality analyses suggested a unidimensional structure for SWP, SLS and ME, respectively. Goodness-of-fit statistics for the one-factor model of the SLS, SWP, and ME scale items were adequate for all measures. Non-redundant taxometric analysis results consistently suggested a dimensional latent structure for the SLS, SWP, and ME, respectively. Conclusion. Our findings supported the use of the SLS, SWP, and ME total scores as measures of sleepiness, sleep-wake problem, and morningness/eveningness, at least among Italian community-dwelling adolescents, and encourage practitioners to rely on the conventional percentiles in order to interpret the SLS, SWP, and ME total scores