Barratt Impulsiveness Scale
The Barratt Impulsiveness Scale is a widely used measure of impulsiveness. It includes 30 items that are scored to yield six first-order factors and three second-order factors.
The BIS is the most widely used self-report measure of impulsive personality traits. As of June 2008, Web of Knowledge tallied 457 journal citations of the 1995 article which defined the factor structure of the 11th version of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. Although initially developed in the United States, the BIS-11 has been applied widely around the world, including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
The first version of the scale, the BIS-1, was released in 1959. The second version, the BIS-11, was released in 1995.
Scoring
The BIS-11 is a 30-item self-report questionnaire, that is scored to yield a total score, three second-order factors, and six first-order factors. The questions are published in the 1995 references article. The following is a list of the items contributing to each factor score.| Second-order Factors | Item Content |
| Attentional: | 6, 5, 9*, 11, 20*, 24, 26, 28 |
| Motor: | 2, 3, 4, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 30* |
| Nonplanning: | 1*, 7*, 8*, 10*, 12*, 13*, 14, 15*, 18, 27, 29* |
| First-order Factors | Item Content |
| Attention: | 5, 9*, 11, 20*, 28 |
| Motor: | 2, 3, 4, 17, 19, 22, 25 |
| Self-Control: | 1*, 7*, 8*, 12*, 13*, 14 |
| Cognitive Complexity: | 10*, 15*, 18, 27, 29* |
| Perseverance: | 16, 21, 23, 30* |
| Cognitive Instability: | 6, 24, 26 |