[Psychometric properties of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale in a sample of the city of Buenos Aires].

The Barratt Impulsiveness Scale was designed to assess the impulsivity construct in three dimensions: attentional, motor and unplanned. The scale has been applied to patients with different diagnoses in which the impulsivity symptoms are characteristic. In Argentina there aren't studies that evaluate the psychometrics properties of the scale in clinical population. The objective of the research was to evaluate the psychometrics properties in a sample of the city of Buenos Aires. 150 adult subjects were selected: 67 didn't have relevant psychiatric diagnoses, 56 met criteria for bipolar disorder and 27 had Attention Deficit Disorder. The internal consistency, the construct validity, discriminative validity and the factorial structure were assessed. The Cronbach alpha was 0.84 for the total scale. Also the instrument has demonstrated acceptable indicators of construct and discriminative validity. Significant differences were found when the results of the present study and the original factorial structure were compared. The results support the usefulness of the scale in the psychiatric, scientific and clinical context to evaluate the impulsivity construct. The total score of the scale obtained the strongest indicators of reliability and validity.