Psychometric properties and utility of the Responses to Positive Affect questionnaire (RPA) in a sample of people with bipolar disorder

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Responses to Positive Affect (RPA) questionnaire in a sample of persons with bipolar disorder (BD). METHOD: Cross‐sectional survey study with 107 persons with BD. The original 3‐factor model of the RPA was compared with a 2‐factor model. Construct validity was determined with measures of well‐being, personal recovery, social role participation, and psychopathology and incremental validity was evaluated. RESULTS: The fit of the 3‐factor model was acceptable for most fit indices. Subscores of the RPA revealed a significant relationship with aspects of well‐being, personal recovery, and psychopathology. Dampening and self‐focused positive rumination explained additional variance in personal recovery above and beyond well‐being. CONCLUSIONS: The RPA is an internally consistent and valid tool to assess positive emotion regulation processes in persons with BD. Specifically, the processes of dampening and emotion‐focused positive rumination seem to play an important role in BD.