AN AMERICAN ENGLISH VERSION OF THE PAVLOVIAN TEMPERAMENT SURVEY

This paper reports the development and initial evaluation of a version of the Pavlovian Temperament Survey (PTS) based upon a translation of the original German into American English idiom. A total of 452 subje cts from student and community subsamples responded to the entire Amer ican English PTS item pool. Using the protocol employed in the develop ment of other language versions, 66 items were selected for the invent ory. The resulting scales-Strength of Excitation (SE), Strength of Inh ibition (SI), and Mobility of Nervous Processes (MO)-had acceptable ps ychometric characteristics. Scale intercorrelations were similar to th ose of other language version of the PTS, with the most salient featur e being a relatively high SE-MO correlation. Item principal components analyses indicated that each scale contained situation- and/or respon se-specific factors. General factors were also present for SE and MO. SE was higher for males than females, and SI increased with age. Inter nal consistency and scale intercorrelations were similar for males and females and for the community and student subsamples. The application of Australian, Polish, and German scorekeys to the responses of the A merican subjects resulted in the expected moderate correlations among the four versions of the SE and SI scales, and unexpectedly high corre lations among the MO scales. Overall, the findings suggest that the Am erican English PTS will be useful in assessing the Pavlovian nervous s ystem properties. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.