Heartache in Young Adulthood: Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of a Spanish Version of the Breakup Distress Scale

Abstract

Romantic breakups are considered one of the most stressful events experienced by young adults. Although the Breakup Distress Scale (BDS) is one of the most widely used instruments to measure breakup distress, there is limited evidence regarding its psychometric properties. Thus, we sought to adapt and validate a Spanish version of the BDS. The sample consisted of 179 Dominican young adults (78% female, 87% heterosexual, and 94% currently single), between the ages of 18 and 30 who experienced at least one breakup in the last 5 years. Parallel analysis and confirmatory factor analysis provided support for a robust one-factor structure. Additionally, the BDS scores exhibited high internal consistency reliability and item-rest correlations. Moreover, structural equation modeling indicated that those who initiated the breakup experienced less breakup distress than non-initiators, congruent with the literature. These combined findings suggest that the Spanish version of the BDS has good psychometric and validity properties.