Personal need for structure as a construct of dispositional differences in social psychology: Psychometric analysis and validation of a German PNS scale

Abstract

A reliable and valid German version of the Personal Need for Structure(PNS) scale is presented. A translation of the English PNS scale wascreated, subjected to a scale analysis, and validated with personalityand social psychological variables. In Study 1 (N = 702) we analyzed thepsychometric quality of the German translation of the PNS scale. Theresults indicate that the reliability and the factor structure of theGerman PNS scale are comparable to the English version. In Study 2 (N =86), convergent and divergent validity of the PNS scale were tested onthe basis of the Big Five personality variables, Need for Cognition andconservatism. In Study 3 (N = 66) we validated the PNS scale in the areaof intergroup research with variables of identification with theingroup, diversity beliefs, homogeneity of ingroup, and outgroupperception and ingroup favouritism.