Background: Impulsive behavior is an important characteristic in a range of psychiatric disorders. A unanimous definition of impulsivity is still under discussion, but a questionnaire to measure it has been available for quite some time, i.e. the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale Version 11 (BIS11). However, it lacks adequate psychometric characterization for German speakers.
Materials and methods: Control persons were recruited from the Munich city population. Patients with alcohol dependence, suicide attempts, and borderline personality disorders treated as inpatients at the Munich University Psychiatric Clinic were recruited.
Results: Confirmatory analysis of the originally suggested factor structure did not adequately represent the data in our sample. The BIS11 sum score, which showed adequate internal consistencies in all subgroups, significantly differentiated the extent of impulsivity between patients and control persons.
Conclusions: Use of the BIS11 sum score in German-speaking regions can be recommended. This sum score shows adequate internal consistency and well differentiated the extent of impulsivity between different groups of patients with psychiatric diagnoses and control persons.