Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Japanese Version of the Attitudes toward Singlehood Scale1,2,3,4

Abstract

The nine-item Attitudes toward Singlehood Scale (AtSS) is a newly developed measurement for people to self-report their manners toward staying single. The original English-version AtSS shows sound psychometric properties in the Malaysian and Indian contexts. To necessarily adapt the AtSS in cross-cultural studies, we developed the Japanese version of the AtSS (AtSS-J) and examined its psychometric qualities in a sample of 316 Japanese undergraduate students. The participants answered an online survey consisting of the AtSS-J, a (single-item) preference for being single, the Mini-Social Phobia Inventory, the Single Item Narcissism Scale, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Confirmatory factor analysis supports that the AtSS-J has a second-order factor structure (error covariance specified between Items 3 and 5) composed of three first-order specific factors (affect, behavior, and cognition). Both Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega estimates indicated good reliability in the AtSS-J. Moreover, convergent and discriminant validity of the AtSS-J are evident, while the concurrent validity with life satisfaction as criterion variable showed inconsistent results. Overall, our findings offer preliminary support to the usability of the AtSS-J.