Introduction: Pathological love (PL)–behavior characterized by providing repetitive and uncontrolled care and attention to the partner in a romantic relationship–is a rarely studied condition, despite not being rare and causing suffering. This study aims at investigating impulsivity, personality, and characteristics related to the romantic relationship in this population.Methods: Eighty-nine individuals (50 with PL; 39 individuals with no psychiatric disorder) were compared regarding impulsivity, personality, type of attachment, satisfaction with romantic relationship, and love style.Results: Individuals with PL have higher levels of impulsivity (P<.001; Barratt Impulsiveness Scale), higher self-transcendence, that is, are more unconventional and hold sense of communion with a wider reality (P<.001; Temperament and Character Inventory) and keep dissatisfactory romantic relationships (P<.001; Adapted Relationship Assessment Scale).Conclusion: Individuals with PL present personality traits and relationship aspects that must be taken into account in devising assessment and therapeutic strategies for this population.

ResumoContexto: Diversas metodologias foram desenvolvidas para validar instrumentos psicométricos. No entanto, na literatura científica, há escassez de instrumentos para avaliar os relacionamentos amorosos. Objetivo: O presente trabalho tem como objetivo validar para o português o conteúdo dos instrumentos autoaplicáveis Love Attitudes Scale (Escala de Atitudes do Amor -Hendrick et al., 1998), Relationship Assessment Scale (Escala de Avaliação do Relacionamento -Hendrick, 1988) e Adult Attachment Types (Tipos de Apego do Adulto -Hazan et al., 1987), levando em consideração o contexto cultural brasileiro e, consequentemente, possibilitando que o estudo do amor patológico seja viável na população brasileira. Métodos: Tal processo envolveu quatro etapas: (1) tradução para o português, (2) retrotradução, (3) apresentação da versão corrigida para profissionais de saúde mental e estudantes universitários e (4) aplicação da versão final em amostra da população-alvo utilizando uma escala analógico-visual. Resultados: As escalas foram facilmente compreendidas e discriminaram significativamente indivíduos com amor patológico de voluntários saudáveis. Conclusão: Nossos resultados mostram que a versão brasileira desses instrumentos é válida e pode ser usada em investigações envolvendo relacionamentos amorosos.Berti MP, et al. / Rev Psiq Clín. 2011;38(4):135-8 Palavras-chave: Amor, escalas, comportamento compulsivo, validação, tradução. AbstractBackground: Several methodologies were developed to validate psychometric instruments. However, there are, in the scientific literature, a lack of instruments to evaluate romantic relationship. Objective: The present work aims at validating into Portuguese the content of the self-report Love Attitudes Scale (Escala de Atitudes do Amor -Hendrick et al., 1998), the Relationship Assessment Scale (Escala de Avaliação do Relacionamento -Hendrick, 1988), and the Adult Attachment Types (Tipos de Apego do Adulto -Hazan et al., 1987), taking the Brazilian cultural context into consideration, thus rendering the study of pathological love in the Brazilian population feasible. Methods: Such process involved four stages: (1) translation into Portuguese, (2) back translation, (3) presentation of the translated version to mental health professionals and university students, and (4) application of the final version in a sample of the target population using a rating scale. Results: The scales were easily understood and significantly discriminated individuals with pathological love and healthy volunteers. Discussion: Our results show that the Brazilian version of these instruments is valid and may be used in investigations involving romantic relationships.