Validation of the Italian version of the dissociative experience scale for adolescents and young adults

BACKGROUND: The Dissociative Experience Scale for adolescent (A-DES), a 30-item, multidimensional, self-administered questionnaire, was validated using a large sample of American young people sample. We reported the linguistic validation process and the metric validity of the Italian version of A-DES in the Italy. METHODS: A set of questionnaires was provided to a total of 633 participants from March 2015 to April 2016. The participants consisted of 282 boys and 351 girls, and their average age was between 18 and 24 years old. The translation process consisted of two consecutive steps: forward–backward translation and acceptability testing. The psychometric testing was applied to Italian students who were recruited from the Italian Public Schools and Universities in Sicily. Informed consent was obtained from all participants at the research. All individuals completed the A-DES. Reliability and validity were tested. RESULTS: The translated version was validated on a total of 633 Italian students. The reliability of A-DES total is .926. It is composed by 4 subscales: Dissociative amnesia, Absorption and imaginative involvement, Depersonalization and derealization, and Passive influence. The reliability of each subscale is: .756 for dissociative amnesia, .659 for absorption and imaginative involvement, .850 for depersonalization and derealization, and .743 for passive influence. CONCLUSIONS: The Italian version of the A-DES constitutes a useful instrument to measure dissociative experience in adolescents and young adults in Italy. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12991-016-0120-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.