Development and Validation of Romantic Relations Scale for Adolescents (RRS-A)

Abstract

Background. Romantic relations are usually taken as hallmark of adolescence and considered
important relational factors in the development and well-being of adolescents. As no instrument was
available to measure perception of romantic relations by adolescents living in eastern religious
collectivist developing society, therefore, the main objective of this study was to develop an
indigenous scale to measure perception of romantic relations by adolescents, both boys and girls.
Methods. Three studies were conducted with adolescents’ samples, age ranging from 16 to 18
years. Study 1 was conducted to generate item pool. Study 2 was conducted to determine factor
structure and psychometric properties of the scale on sample of 506 adolescents. And study 3 was
carried out to confirm factor structure through confirmatory factor analysis on another sample of
adolescents (N = 647).
Results. In first study, a pool of 151 items was generated. In second study, Principal Axis Factoring
with Promax rotation was used for 1st order exploratory factor analysis that resulted in generation
of 13 factors consisting of 74 items. Cronbach’s Alpha for factors ranged from .61 to .88. Second
order factor analysis resulted in three dimensions named as Intimacy (α = .94), Passion (α = .83)
and Distrust (α = .84). Finally, in third study, results of hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis
showed that scale had construct validity.
Conclusion. The results indicate that Romantic Relations Scale for Adolescents (RRS-A) is a
comprehensive, valid, and reliable measure to assess the perception of romantic relations in
adolescents.