TY - JOUR

T1 - The Premonitory Urge for Tics Scale in a large sample of children and adolescents

T2 - psychometric properties in a developmental context. An EMTICS study

AU - Openneer, Thaïra J.C.

AU - Tárnok, Zsanett

AU - Bognar, Emese

AU - Benaroya-Milshtein, Noa

AU - Garcia-Delgar, Blanca

AU - Morer, Astrid

AU - Steinberg, Tamar

AU - Hoekstra, Pieter J.

AU - Dietrich, Andrea

AU - Apter, Alan

AU - Baglioni, Valentina

AU - Ball, Juliane

AU - Bodmer, Benjamin

AU - Burger, Bianka

AU - Buse, Judith

AU - Cardona, Francesco

AU - Correa Vela, Marta

AU - Debes, Nanette M.

AU - Ferro, Maria Cristina

AU - Fremer, Carolin

AU - Gulisano, Mariangela

AU - Hagen, Annelieke

AU - Hagstrøm, Julie

AU - Hedderly, Tammy J.

AU - Heyman, Isobel

AU - Huyser, Chaim

AU - Madruga-Garrido, Marcos

AU - Marotta, Anna

AU - Mir, Pablo

AU - Müller, Norbert

AU - Müller-Vahl, Kirsten

AU - Münchau, Alexander

AU - Nagy, Peter

AU - Neri, Valeria

AU - Openneer, Thaïra J.C.

AU - Pellico, Alessandra

AU - Plessen, Kerstin J.

AU - Porcelli, Cesare

AU - Redondo, Marina

AU - Rizzo, Renata

AU - Roessner, Veit

AU - Ruhrman, Daphna

AU - Schnell, Jaana M.L.

AU - Silvestri, Paola Rosaria

AU - Skov, Liselotte

AU - Tagwerker Gloor, Friederike

AU - Tübing, Jennifer

AU - Turner, Victoria L.

AU - Visscher, Frank

AU - and the EMTICS collaborative group

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Premonitory urges are uncomfortable physical sensations preceding tics that occur in most individuals with a chronic tic disorder. The Premonitory Urge for Tics Scale (PUTS) is the most frequently used self-report measure to assess the severity of premonitory urges. We aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the PUTS in the largest sample size to date (n = 656), in children aged 3–16 years, from the baseline measurement of the longitudinal European Multicenter Tics in Children Study (EMTICS). Our psychometric evaluation was done in three age-groups: children aged 3–7 years (n = 103), children between 8 and 10 years (n = 253), and children aged 11–16 years (n = 300). The PUTS exhibited good internal reliability in children and adolescents, also under the age of 10, which is younger than previously thought. We observed significant but small correlations between the severity of urges and severity of tics and obsessive–compulsive symptoms, and between severity of urges and ratings of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and internalizing and externalizing behaviors, however, only in children of 8–10 years. Consistent with previous results, the 10th item of the PUTS correlated less with the rest of the scale compared to the other items and, therefore, should not be used as part of the questionnaire. We found a two-factor structure of the PUTS in children of 11 years and older, distinguishing between sensory phenomena related to tics, and mental phenomena as often found in obsessive–compulsive disorder. The age-related differences observed in this study may indicate the need for the development of an age-specific questionnaire to assess premonitory urges.

AB - Premonitory urges are uncomfortable physical sensations preceding tics that occur in most individuals with a chronic tic disorder. The Premonitory Urge for Tics Scale (PUTS) is the most frequently used self-report measure to assess the severity of premonitory urges. We aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the PUTS in the largest sample size to date (n = 656), in children aged 3–16 years, from the baseline measurement of the longitudinal European Multicenter Tics in Children Study (EMTICS). Our psychometric evaluation was done in three age-groups: children aged 3–7 years (n = 103), children between 8 and 10 years (n = 253), and children aged 11–16 years (n = 300). The PUTS exhibited good internal reliability in children and adolescents, also under the age of 10, which is younger than previously thought. We observed significant but small correlations between the severity of urges and severity of tics and obsessive–compulsive symptoms, and between severity of urges and ratings of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and internalizing and externalizing behaviors, however, only in children of 8–10 years. Consistent with previous results, the 10th item of the PUTS correlated less with the rest of the scale compared to the other items and, therefore, should not be used as part of the questionnaire. We found a two-factor structure of the PUTS in children of 11 years and older, distinguishing between sensory phenomena related to tics, and mental phenomena as often found in obsessive–compulsive disorder. The age-related differences observed in this study may indicate the need for the development of an age-specific questionnaire to assess premonitory urges.

KW - Obsessive–compulsive symptoms

KW - Premonitory Urge for Tics Scale (PUTS)

KW - Premonitory urges

KW - Psychometric properties

KW - Tourette syndrome

U2 - 10.1007/s00787-019-01450-1

DO - 10.1007/s00787-019-01450-1

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31802271

AN - SCOPUS:85076006668

VL - 29

SP - 1411

EP - 1424

JO - European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Supplement

JF - European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Supplement

SN - 1433-5719

IS - 10

ER -