A short measure of the need for affect

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Personality Psychology
• Individual Differences

Background:

• The Need for Affect Questionnaire (NAQ) measures individual differences in the motivation to experience affective states.
• A concise and validated measure is needed for efficient assessment of this construct.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and validate a short, 10-item version of the Need for Affect Questionnaire (NAQ-S).
• To examine the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the NAQ-S.

Main Methods:

• Study 1: Factor analysis and correlational analyses across four independent samples (N=2,151) in German and English.
• Study 2: Latent state-trait analysis (N=140) to assess the stability of NAQ-S scores.

Main Results:

• The 10-item NAQ-S demonstrated the expected factorial structure.
• Measurement invariance was confirmed across gender, age, and education.
• The NAQ-S showed predicted associations with relevant personality measures.
• Latent state-trait analysis indicated that NAQ-S variance primarily reflects stable individual differences.

Conclusions:

• The NAQ-S is a psychometrically sound and efficient measure of the need for affect.
• The scale effectively captures stable individual differences in the motivation to experience emotions.