Factor Structure and Psychometric Properties of the Persian Disgust Scale-Revised: Examination of Specificity to Symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Giti Shams, Elham Foroughi, Melanie W. Moretz, Bunmi O. Olatunji

Department of Psychology, School of Behavioral Science, The University of Melbourne,Melbourne, Australia.
Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA.
Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, New York, USA.
Roozbeh Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

DOI: 10.4236/psych.2013.46075                

Abstract

Although a growing body of research has implicated disgust in the etiology of a variety of anxiety disorders, there remains a paucity of research examining this phenomenon across different cultures. The present study examined the factor structure and psychometric properties of a newly adapted Persian Disgust Scale-Revised (PDS-R). A large sample (n = 374) of Iranian students completed the PDS-R and other symptom measures of psychopathology including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Results showed good internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the PDS-R. Confirmatory factor analysis found support for two- and three-factor models of the PDS-R. However, examination of internal consistency estimates suggests that a two-factor model of contagion disgust and animal-reminder disgust may be more parsimonious. The PDS-R total and subscale scores displayed theoretically consistent patterns of correlations with symptom measures of psychopathology. Structural equation modeling also revealed that latent disgust sensitivity, defined by the contagion disgust and animal-reminder disgust subscales of the PDS-R, was significantly associated with latent symptoms of contamination and non-contamination-based OCD when controlling for latent negative affect. The implications of these findings for the cross-cultural assessment of disgust in the context of anxiety related pathology are discussed.

Keywords

Persian Disgust; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder; Contagion

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Akaike,H.(1987). Factor analysis and AIC. Psychometrica, 25, 317-320. doi:10.1007/BF02294359
[2]	Angyal, A. (1941). Disgust and related aversions. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 36, 393-412. doi:10.1037/h0058254
[3]	Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Gabrin, M. G. (1988). The psychometric properties of the beck depression inventory: Twenty-five years of evaluation. Clinical Psychology Review, 8, 77-100. doi:10.1016/0272-7358(88)90050-5
[4]	Burnham, K. P., & Anderson, D. R. (2002). Model selection and multimodel inference: A practical information-theoretic approach (2nd ed.). New York: Springer-Verlag.
[5]	Burns, G. L., Keortge, S. G., Formea, G. M., & Sternberger, L. G. (1996). Revision of the Padua Inventory of obsessive compulsive disorder symptoms: Distinctiveness between worry, obsessions, and compulsions. Behavior Research and Therapy, 324, 163-173. doi:10.1016/0005-7967(95)00035-6
[6]	Byrne, B. M. (1908). A primer of LISREL: Basic applications and programming for confirmatory factor analytic models. New York: Springer-Verlag.
[7]	Cisler, J. M., Brady, R. E., Olatunji, B. O., & Lohr, J. M. (2010). Disgust and obsessive beliefs in contamination related OCD. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 34, 439-448. doi:10.1007/s10608-009-9253-y
[8]	Dadfar, M., Bolhari, J., Malakouti, K., & Bayan Zadeh, A. (2001). An examination of the phenomenology of obsessive-compulsive disorder. The Quarterly Journal of Andeesheh Va Raftar, 7, 27-32.
[9]	Darwin, C. (1872/1965). The expression of the emotions in man and animals. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
[10]	Davey, G. C. L. (2004). Disgust and eating disorders. European Eating Disorders Review, 6, 201-211. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-0968(199809)6:3<201::AID-ERV224>3.0.CO;2-E
[11]	Deacon, B., & Olatunji, B. O. (2007) Specificity of disgust sensitivity in the prediction of behavioral avoidance in contamination fear. Behavior, Research and Therapy, 45, 2110-2120.
[12]	Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1975). Unmasking the face. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
[13]	Foa, E. B., Huppert, J. D., Leiberg, S., Langner, R., Kichic, R., Hajcak, G. O., & Salkovskis, P. M. (2002). The obsessive-compulsive inventory: Development and validation of a short version. Psychological Assessment, 14, 485-496. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.14.4.485
[14]	Foa, E. B., Kazak, M. J., Salkovskis, P. M., Coles, M. E., & Amir, N. (1998). The validation of a new obsessive compulsive disorder scale: The obsessive-compulsive inventory. Psychological Assessment, 10, 206-214. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.10.3.206
[15]	Ghassemzadeh, H., Bolhari, J., Birashk, B., & Salavati, M. (2005). Responsibility attitude in a sample of Iranian obsessive-compulsive patients. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 51, 13-22. doi:10.1177/0020764005053266
[16]	Ghassemzadeh, H., Mojtabai, R., Khamseh, A., Ebrahimkhani, N., Issazadegan, A., & Saif-Nobakht, Z. (2002). Symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in a sample of Iranian patients. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 48, 220-228. doi:10.1177/002076402128783055
[17]	Haidt, J., Rozin, P., McCauley, C., & Imada, S. (1997). Body, psyche, and culture: The relationship between disgust and morality. Psychology and Developing Societies, 9, 107-131. doi:10.1177/097133369700900105
[18]	Haidt, J., McCauley, C., & Rozin, P. (1994). Individual differences in sensitivity to disgust: A scale sampling seven domains of disgust elicitors. Personality and Individual Differences, 16, 701-713. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(94)90212-7
[19]	Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1-55. doi:10.1080/10705519909540118
[20]	Inbar, Y., Pizarro, D. A., Knobe, J., & Bloom, P. (2009). Disgust sensitivity predicts intuitive disapproval of gays. Emotion, 9, 435-439. doi:10.1037/a0015960
[21]	Joreskog, K. G., & Sorbom, D. A. (2006). LISREL 8.54 and PRELIS 2.54. Chicago, IL: Scientific Software.
[22]	MacCallum, R. C., Browne, M. W., & Sugawara, H. M. (1996). Power analysis and determination of sample size for covariance structure modeling. Psychological Methods, 1, 130-149. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.1.2.130
[23]	Mancini, F., Gragnani, A., & D’Olimpio, F. (2001). The connection between disgust and obsessions and compulsions in a non-clinical sample. Personality and Individual Differences, 31, 1173-1180. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(00)00215-4
[24]	McDonald, R. P., & Ho, M.-H. R. (2002). Principles and practice in reporting structural equation analyses. Psychological Methods, 7, 64-82. doi:10.1037/1082-989X.7.1.64
[25]	Meyer, T. J., Miller, M. L., Metzger, R. L., & Borkovec, T. D. (1990). Development and validation of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Behavior Research and Therapy, 28, 487-495. doi:10.1016/0005-7967(90)90135-6
[26]	Moretz, M. W., & McKay, D. (2008). Disgust sensitivity as a predictor of obsessive-compulsive contamination symptoms and associated cognitions. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 22, 707-715. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2007.07.004
[27]	Olatunji, B. O. (2008). Disgust, scrupulosity and conservative attitudes about sex: Evidence for a mediational model of homophobia. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 1364-1369. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2008.04.001
[28]	Olatunji, B. O., Lohr, J. M., Sawchuk, C. N., & Tolin, D. F. (2007). Multimodal assessment of disgust in contamination-related obsessive-compulsive disorder. Behavior Research and Therapy, 45, 263-276. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2006.03.004
[29]	Olatunji, B. O., Moretz, M. W., McKay. D., Bjorklund, F., De Jong, P. J., Haidt, J., Hursti, T. J., Imada, S., Koller, S., Mancini, F., Page, A. C., & Schienle, A. (2009). Confirming the three-factor structure of the Disgust Scale-Revised in eight countries. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 40, 234-255. doi:10.1177/0022022108328918
[30]	Olatunji, B. O., & Sawchuk, C. N. (2005). Disgust: Characteristic features, social manifestations, and clinical implications. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 27, 932-962. doi:10.1521/jscp.2005.24.7.932
[31]	Olatunji, B. O., Sawchuk, C. N., Lohr, J. M., & De Jong, P. J. (2004). Disgust domains in the prediction of contamination fear. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 93-104. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(03)00102-5
[32]	Olatunji, B. O. (2010). Changes in disgust correspond with changes in symptoms of contamination-based OCD: A prospective examination of specificity. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24, 313-317. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.01.003
[33]	Olatunji, B. O., Williams, N., Lohr, J. M., Connolly, K., Cisler, J., & Meunier, S. (2007). Structural differentiation of disgust from trait anxiety in the prediction of specific anxiety disorder symptoms. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 3002-3017. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2007.08.011
[34]	Olatunji, B. O., Cisler, J. M., McKay, D., & Phillips, M. (2010). Is disgust associated with psychopathology? Emerging research in the anxiety disorders. Psychiatry Research, 175, 1-10. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2009.04.007
[35]	Rasmussen, S. A., & Tsuang, J. L. (1992). The epidemiology and clinical features of obsessive compulsive disorder. The Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 15, 743-758.
[36]	Rozin, P., Haidt, J., & McCauley, C. R. (2000). Disgust. In M. Lewise, & J. M. Haviland (Eds.), Handbook of emotions. New York: Guilford Publications.
[37]	Rozin, P., & Fallon, A. E. (1987) A perspective on disgust. Psychological Review, 94, 32-41. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.94.1.23
[38]	Rozin, P., Fallon, A. E., & Mandell, R. (1984). Family resemblances in attitudes to food. Developmental Psychology, 20, 309-314. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.20.2.309
[39]	Shams, G., Karamghadiri, N., Esmaili Torkanbori, Y., Rahiminejad, F., & Ebrahimkhani, N. (2006). Obsessional beliefs in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and other anxiety disorders as compared to the control group. Advances in Cognitive Science, 2, 83-90.
[40]	Speilberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L., & Simos, G. (1983). Manual for the state trait anxiety inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychology Press.
[41]	Steketee, G. S., Grayson, J. B., & Foa, E. B. (1985). Obsessive-compulsive disorder: Differences between washers and checkers. Behavior, Research and Therapy, 23, 197-201. doi:10.1016/0005-7967(85)90028-2
[42]	Thordarson, D. S., Radomsky, A. S., Rachman, S., Shafran, R., Sawchuk, C. N., & Hakstian, A. R. (2004). The Vancouver Obsessional Compulsive Inventory (VOCI). Behavior Research and Therapy, 42, 1289-1314. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2003.08.007
[43]	Tolin, D. F., Woods, C. M., & Abramowitz, J. S. (2006). Disgust sensitivity and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in a non-clinical sample. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 37, 30-40. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2005.09.003
[44]	Tomkins, S. (1963). Affect, imagery, consciousness: Vol. 2. The negative effects. New York: Springer.
[45]	Ullman, M. T. (2006). Is Broca’s area part of a basal ganglia thalamocortical Circuit? Cortex, 42, 480-485.
[46]	Woody, S. R., & Teachman, B. A. (2000). Intersection of disgust and fear: Normative and pathological views. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 7, 291-311. doi:10.1093/clipsy.7.3.291