Stereotypes Toward Voluntary Singlehood Scale: Development, Validity and Reliability

Abstract

This study aims to develop a valid and reliable tool that measures stereotypes toward single people. To this end, in the first stage of the study, we conducted a qualitative study with 102 participants (M = 24.32, SD = 3.41) to reveal how individuals who prefer to remain single are perceived in society. Together with the findings of this qualitative study, we created the first form of the scale. We examined the scale's construct validity by exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. As a result of the exploratory factor analysis performed with a sample of 358 participants (M = .29; SD = 7.92), we found that the scale had a single factor structure consisting of 15 items explaining 56.5% of the total variance. This scale structure was confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis with another study group of 406 participants (M = 28.72, SD = 7.93). We tested the criterion-related validity of the scale with the Inönü Marriage Attitude Scale. The correlation coefficient calculated between the scores from the two scales was .40. The scale's reliability was examined using Cronbach's Alpha analysis and split-half test. The Cronbach's Alpha coefficient of the scale was .95. The correlation between the two halves of the test is .87. These findings provide evidence that the stereotypes scale for voluntary singles is a valid and reliable.