Psychometric Evaluation and Misophonic Experience in a Portuguese-Speaking Sample

Abstract

Misophonia, a disorder characterised by an extreme sensitivity to certain sounds, is increasingly being studied in cross-cultural settings. The S-Five scale is a multidimensional psychometric tool initially developed to measure the severity of misophonia in English-speaking populations. The scale has been validated in several languages, and the present study aimed to validate the European Portuguese S-Five scale in a Portuguese-speaking sample. The scale was translated into Portuguese using a forward-backwards translation method. The psychometric properties of the S-Five scale were evaluated in a sample of 491 Portuguese-speaking adults. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a five-factor structure consistent with previous versions of the S-Five scale. The five factors were as follows: (1) internalising appraisals, (2) externalising appraisals, (3) perceived threat and avoidance behaviour, (4) outbursts, and (5) impact on functioning. The satisfactory psychometric properties of the S-Five scale further indicated its cross-cultural stability. As a psychometrically robust tool, the S-Five can measure misophonia in Portuguese-speaking populations, allowing future studies to explore and compare misophonia in this population.

Beyond sound irritation: cross-cultural evidence on the robustness of the five aspects of misophonic experience measured by the S-Five in a Polish sample

“…The main objective of this study was to translate and validate the Polish version of the S-Five, a comprehensive questionnaire for assessing misophonia symptoms’ severity. The results provided preliminary support for the five-factor structure of the S-Five in the Polish-speaking population, consisting of both individuals with and without self-identified misophonia (not implying a formal diagnosis but potentially suggestive of misophonia), consistent with studies in English-speaking ( Vitoratou et al, 2021b ), German ( Remmert et al, 2022 ), Chinese ( Vitoratou et al, 2022 ), and Portuguese ( Hayes et al, 2024 ) populations. The factor structure’s robustness was supported through the satisfactory stability of each subscale of the S-Five, that is, they are very likely to reproduce in other samples.…”

“…While this group is heterogeneous in terms of diagnoses, with a majority experiencing misophonia, which could potentially influence the averages of the subscales, our results also show that externalizing did not correlate as strongly with the other four factors (0.26–0.38), when compared to intercorrelations between the other four (0.44–0.53). Externalizing also showed the lowest correlations with most other misophonia measures and with depression and anxiety in the present study and other studies ( Vitoratou et al, 2021b ; Remmert et al, 2022 ; Vitoratou et al, 2022 , 2023 ; Hayes et al, 2024 ). While formal statistical comparisons were not used to examine these differences in this study, they contribute to the understanding of externalizing appraisals as relatively common responses to unpleasant sounds in the general population, and they may not be as useful as other factors in distinguishing misophonic responses from a general negative reaction to sounds.…”

“…The five-factor structure was replicated with a high frequency (92% of the time), making the dimensions of the S-Five generalizable to other samples. This was further supported by successful replications of the five factors in representative sample of the UK population ( Vitoratou et al, 2023 ), German ( Remmert et al, 2022 ), Mandarin-speaking Chinese ( Vitoratou et al, 2022 ), and Portuguese ( Hayes et al, 2024 ) populations.…”

“…The highest average subscale score was for threat, which aligns with the findings from a study in the UK on individuals self-identifying with misophonia ( Vitoratou et al, 2021b ). Notably, when examining samples from the general population using the S-Five, other studies from the UK, Germany, China and Portugal report the highest average score on the externalizing factor ( Remmert et al, 2022 ; Vitoratou et al, 2022 ; Hayes et al, 2024 ). When examining differences in the means on subscales between a misophonia sample and a general population sample, the average score is roughly 50% higher in a misophonia sample (compared to general population) for externalizing, but 3–4 times higher for the other four factors ( Vitoratou et al, 2021b , 2023 ).…”

“…The five-factor structure of the S-Five was further replicated in a large sample representative of the UK population, demonstrating excellent psychometric properties ( Vitoratou et al, 2023 ). The robustness of the factor structure of the S-Five is further evidenced through its replications across different languages and cultures, namely in German ( Remmert et al, 2022 ), Chinese ( Vitoratou et al, 2022 ) and Portuguese ( Hayes et al, 2024 ) populations.…”