Development and Validation of Fear of Being Single Scale-Urdu

Abstract

The present research aims to explore the fear of being single among young women and develop a psychometric instrument called Fear of Being Single Scale-Urdu (FoBSS-U). In four phases, 22 items were generated through 4 interviews, 1 focus group discussion, and literature review. Content validity index (r = .96) of these items was strong, leading to removal of 2 items. A pilot study (N = 10) insured items were readable and easy to understand. In phase 2, two fear factors (Intrapersonal and Interpersonal) of being single emerged from the 20 items using exploratory factor analysis (N = 100) with strong construct validity. In phase 3, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (N = 304) confirmed the two-factor structure of FoBSS-U. In phase 4, Convergent validity (r = .53, p < .01) assessed with the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Anjum & Batool, 2016) and discriminant validity (r = -.28, p < .01) assessed with Satisfaction with Life Scale (Butt et al., 2014) were significant and moderately strong. This scale is a reliable and valid and can assess fear of being single in Pakistani women