Spanish Adaptation of the Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale-20 (S-PBSS-20) and Evaluation of its Psychometric Properties in University Students

Background: Protective behavioral strategies ( PBS) have shown utility in reducing alcohol-related negative consequences. The Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale (PBSS) is one of the most widely used and well-validated instruments for evaluating these strategies. However, a Spanish adaptation of this or any other measure of PBS is not available. We aimed to provide a Spanish version of PBSS-20 and examine its psychometric properties. Method: We recruited 538 undergraduate students from three Spanish universities (mean age = 21.2; females = 78%). Measures included the Spanish-PBSS-20 (S-PBSS-20), Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (YAACQ), Daily Drinking Questionnaire, and frequency of alcohol use, drunkenness, and binge drinking. Results: Our results support the use of the original 3-factor structure of the PBSS-20. Internal consistency reliability ranged between 0.71- 0.77, and evidence of validity was provided according to the expected relationships with other variables. Exploratory factor analyses provided evidence of convergent/discriminant validity of S-PBSS-20. Conclusions: The results suggest that PBSS-20 is a useful instrument for assessing protective behavioral strategies in alcohol users. The S-PBSS-20 could be useful for research on alcoholrelated protective behavioral strategies and consequences, and could also inform the design of educational interventions for promoting the use of protective strategies and reducing alcohol-related negative consequences.