Brief Measure of Affective Lability Among Portuguese Community and Justice Samples: Psychometrics and Measurement Invariance

Affective lability is a central feature of several emotional disturbances and is linked to aggressive and risky behaviors. This study aimed to analyze the psychometric properties of the Affective Lability Scale-18 (ALS-18) among a community sample and a sample of justice-involved adults. We also aimed to test the measurement invariance between sex and sample type. Results revealed good to excellent values of internal consistency. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the original three-factor structure of the ALS-18 obtained good fits. The ALS-18 demonstrated measurement invariance across sex and sample type. The results support that ALS-18 is a valuable brief and useful measure of affective lability among male and female individuals for use in community and justice samples.