Translation into Portuguese of scales to measure jealousy

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

^IImpulse Control Disorder Outpatient (PRO-AMITI), Department and Institute of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil

^IIDepartment of Psychiatry, Laboratory of Psychopharmacology (LIM-23), School of Medicine, USP, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil

Address correspondence

Dear Editor,

Excessive jealousy is defined as a complex of thoughts that are often irrational, behaviors (unacceptable or extravagant) and feelings such as anger, guilt and shame, when facing the loss or threat of loss of a loving relationship considered valuable, causing significant damages^1-4. Passion crimes motivated by excessive jealousy appear in news and are exploited in arts⁵.

Among studies about jealousy, we emphasize on the Affective Relationship Questionnaire (QAR)², Interpersonal Jealousy Scale (IJS)⁶ and Self-Report Jealousy Scale (SRJS)⁷ because they cover the intensity, thoughts and behaviors related to jealousy. However, these studies were conducted in other cultures and have received strong influence of their cultural contexts. It must be noted that not always a concept can be replicated in another culture without adaptation^8,9. Therefore, it is necessary that the above instruments are translated and adapted to Portuguese and Brazilian reality in order to be sensitive to our cultural context.

QAR consists of 30 questions that assess thoughts/behaviors related to jealousy/infidelity. Answers range from "never" to "always" and score to 30-120. IJS assesses beliefs about jealousy, self-esteem, romantic love and insecurity; comprises 28 statements, responses range from +4 = absolutely false/completely disagree to -4 = absolutely true/completely agree, with α = 0.92. SRJS consists of 24 statements about jealousy-provoking situations divided into: very romantic (α = 0.80), less romantic (α = 0.87) and not romantic (α = 0.79) in the areas of romantic relationship, work, family and social life. The score ranges from 24 to 168 and the responses from 1 (dissatisfied) to 5 (extremely annoying).

Four steps were taken for adaptation: 1) translation into Portuguese, 2) back-translation to English, 3) presentation of the corrected version to mental health professionals and unrelated people in order to assess the content validity and overall meaning; 4) application of the modified version in patients with excessive jealousy (EJ, n = 56) with mean age of 56 years (SD = 37.1), individuals with pathological love (PL, n = 35) with mean age of 38.7 years (SD = 10.7), and among healthy subjects (HS, n = 31) without psychiatric disorders with an average age of 32.6 years (SD = 7.6)^8-9. The subjects were selected by simple random sampling and they all agreed in signing the informed consent form.

To assess comprehension (instruments and specific questions) was used 5-point Likert scale (0 = no comprehension and 5 = perfect comprehension).

The three scales showed good comprehension and good internal consistency (Table 1).

Three issues highlighted: 1) 5-QAR question: "Sometimes you think his/her partner could be unfaithful to you?" [EJ: 5.0 (SD = 0.3); PL: 4.6 (SD = 1.0), HS: 4.4 (SD = 0.9), (c² = 10.719, p = 0.005)]. Correlation between comprehension and total score was significant but weak (r = 0.258, p = 0.004), 2) 28-IJS question: "If ____ accidentally called me by the wrong name, I would be furious" [EJ: 4.9 (SD = 0.6); PL: 4.8 (SD = 0.7), HS: 4.5 (SD = 0.6); χ² = 20.060, p < 0.001]. Pearson correlation between comprehension and the total score was significant (r = 0.322, p < 0.001), and no significant correlation was found between comprehension and level of education (r = 0.074, p = 0.419), this question was modified in final version, 3) 6-SRJS question: "His/her partner spends more and more time on outdoor activities in which you are not included". [EJ: 4.8 (SD = 0.8), PL: 4.8 (SD = 0.8), HS: 4.4 (SD = 1.0); c² = 9.121, p = 0.010]. Correlation between comprehension and level of education was significant and weak (r = 0.194, p = 0.010), and between comprehension and the total score was significant (r = 0.252, p = 0.005).

We conclude that Brazilian versions of these instruments showed excellent internal consistency and can be used for research and evaluation of jealousy. Due to the small sample size, future studies are needed to determine other psychometric characteristics. The modified translations are available upon request from authors.

References

• 1. White G, Mullen PE. Jealousy: theory, research, and clinical strategies. New York: The Guilford Press; 1989.
• 2. Marazziti D, Nasso E, Masala I, Baroni S, Abelli M, Mengali F, et al. Normal and obsessional jealousy: a study of a population of young adults. Eur Psychiatry. 2003;18:106-11.
• 3. De Steno D, Valdesolo P, Barlett M. Jealousy and the threatened self: getting to the heart of the Green-eyed monster. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2006;91(4):626-41.
• 4. Costa AL. Contribuições para o estudo do ciúme excessivo [dissertação]. São Paulo (SP): São Paulo Univ.; 2010.
• 5. Bonomi TMA, Lotufo Neto F. Psicopatologia nas histórias em quadrinhos e cartoons. Rev Psiq Clin. 2010;37(6):291-5.
• 6. Mathes EW, Severa N. Jealousy, romantic love and liking: theoretical considerations and preliminary scale development. Psychol Reports. 1981;49:23-31.
• 7. Bringle RG, Roach S, Andler C, Evenbeck S. Measuring the intensity of jealous reactions. Catalog of Selected Documents in Psycholog; 1979.
• 8. Berti MP, Zilberman ML, Sophia EC, Gorestein C, Pereira AP, Lorena A, et al. Validação de escalas para avaliação do amor patológico. Rev Psiq Clin. 2011;38(4):135-8.
• 9. Blay SL. Escalas de avaliação utilizadas em múltiplos quadros. Rev Psiq Clin. 1999;26(2):106-7.

Translation into portuguese of scales to measure jealousy

Andrea Lorena da Costa^I; Ana Paula Pereira^I; Cíntia Sanches^I; Talita Vendrame^I; Eglacy C. Sophia^I; Monica L. Zilberman^II

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  07 May 2013
• Date of issue
  2013