A Swedish translation and validation of the Disgust Scale: A measure of disgust sensitivity

The psychometric properties of a Swedish version of Haidt, McCauley and Rozin's (1994) Disgust Scale were studied. Confirmatory factor analysis of the original model with eight factors (food, animals, body products, sex, body envelope violations, death, hygiene, and magic) provided satisfactory fit to the data (N= 280), significantly better than to the alternative one-factor and five-factor models. As in the US version women scored significantly higher than men. Positive correlations with measures of food neophobia (r= 0.30, p < 0.0001) and nausea frequency (r(s)= 0.28, p < 0.001) indicate convergent validity. In a separate study (N= 30) a behavioral measure of the willingness to touch, hold, and taste disgusting food objects correlated negatively with the Disgust Scale (r=-0.46, p < 0.01), indicating criterion-related validity.