Is there an all-embracing “intolerance to uncertainty” construct? French Adaptation and Validation of the Intolerance to Uncertainty Scale-Revised

Intolerance to uncertainty is a trait-like disposition largely studied in psychopathology and known to be involved in many psychological disorders. Yet, the very operationalization of this construct has prompted debate in the literature. Three different models have regularly been discussed: a correlated two-factor solution, a bifactorial solution, and a single-factor structure. A growing body of evidence suggests that the bifactorial model represents the adequate factorial solution; however, its validity has never been tested in a large French-speaking sample. Moreover, uncertainty remains regarding the associations between IUS-R and other psychological constructs, especially stress and depression. This project was designed to overcome these limitations. To do so, we translated the scale into French and tested (n = 728) via confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) whether the French version would better fit with a bifactorial-, correlated, or single-factor structure, as implied by previous works. We also examined the internal reliability of the IUS-R, as well as its associations with concurrent measures of stress, depression, anxiety, and worry. The results pointed to a bifactorial structure as the best-fitting model and provided evidence for a strong general intolerance of uncertainty factor that was more reliable and accounted for significantly more common variance than each subscale factor individually. We discuss how this bifactorial structure impacts the conceptualization of IU.