Development and initial validation of the Generalized Pliance Questionnaire

Abstract

Empirical research on functional classes of rule-governed behavior has been scarce, which might be due to the absence of valid behavioral or self-report measures. We describe the development and initial examination of the Generalized Pliance Questionnaire (GPQ) through three studies with a total of 2127 participants. In Study 1, a pool of 77 items reflecting generalized pliance was designed. Thirty-eight of these items were rated as high-quality by at least one of two experts in RFT and were administered to 130 undergraduates. A preliminary version of the GPQ consisting of 18 items (i.e., GPQ-18) was obtained. In Study 2, the GPQ-18 was applied to 410 undergraduates. The results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that the GPQ-18 can be considered as a unidimensional measure and that all items showed good functioning. A shorter, 9-item version of the GPQ (i.e., GPQ-9) was also obtained. In Study 3, the GPQ-18 was applied to three samples, including large samples of undergraduates, the general population and a smaller clinical sample. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the one-factor model obtained a good fit for the GPQ-18 and acceptable for the GPQ-9. Both versions of the GPQ showed excellent internal consistency and theoretically coherent correlations with a wide range of constructs. In conclusion, the GPQ seems to be a valid and reliable measure of generalized pliance.