Positive Emotions Scale: Construct Development and Validation

Abstract

The purpose of the paper was to develop an indigenous and comprehensive scale to measure positive emotions and to establish its psychometric properties. In the first phase, the item pool of 40 items was generated by an in-depth review of literature, focus groups, and semi-structured interviews. Content Validity Index (CVI) was established on 6 expert’s ratings. The total scale CVI calculated was .84. Pilot study was conducted (n = 50) on the preliminary scale to measure its face validity. In the second phase, internal consistency and dimensionality of scale was empirically measured through Exploratory Factor Analysis (N = 273). Ten factors (i.e. Joy, Hope, Gratitude, Compassion, Gratitude towards God, Satisfaction, Awe, Inspiration, Love, and Humor) emerged. In the third phase, to confirm the factor structure of the Scale the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (N = 174) was run. Psychometric properties were established (α = .96). In the final phase, the convergent and discriminant validity was established by using Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). Finally, the Positive Emotions Scale, measuring ten main constructs of positive emotions was constructed.