Psychometric properties and validation of a Polish adaptation of Carver and White’s BIS/BAS scales

The BIS–BAS scales (Carver & White, 1994), which assess Gray’s motivational systems, were translated into Polish. The first part of this contribution contains a psychometric analysis of the Polish translation. The analyses include basic item and scale descriptions as well as structural equation modeling of the measurement model. The second part describes two studies for proving convergent and discriminant validity. In the first study, the correlations are presented on the dimension of the Polish translation of the EPQ-R (including extraversion and neuroticism), STAI-Y2 (with anxiety) and PANAS (with positive and negative affects). The second study includes PTS (with strength of excitation, strength of inhibition, and mobility), FCB-TI (with emotional reactivity, endurance, activity, briskness, and perseveration). The psychometric results as well as the results from convergent and discriminant validity analyses provide evidence for a successful translation of the original scales including relationships to temperamental constructs.