Development and Validation of the Narrative Identity Self-Evaluation Scale (NISE)

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Personality Psychology

Background:

• Narrative identity research traditionally relies on labor-intensive content-coding of personal stories.
• Self-report scales offer an efficient alternative, capturing subjective interpretations of personal narratives.
• Existing methods may not fully capture the nuances of narrative identity construction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Narrative Identity Self-Evaluation (NISE) questionnaire.
• To provide an efficient, self-report measure of narrative identity.
• To assess common and novel dimensions of narrative identity, including disturbances.

Main Methods:

• Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to develop and validate the NISE questionnaire across three studies.
• Criterion validity was examined by comparing NISE scores with content-coded narrative variables.
• The NISE was correlated with self-report traits, self-concept, well-being, and psychopathology measures.

Main Results:

• The 20-item NISE questionnaire demonstrated a robust four-factor structure: autobiographical reasoning, desire for structure, positive motivational/affective themes, and disturbances of narrative identity.
• NISE scores showed theoretically coherent correlations with content-coded narrative identity variables.
• The scale exhibited meaningful relationships with self-report traits, self-concept, well-being, and psychopathology.

Conclusions:

• The NISE questionnaire is a valid and reliable self-report measure for assessing narrative identity.
• The NISE effectively complements traditional content-coding methods in narrative identity research.
• This scale can be utilized in both clinical and non-clinical populations to assess variations in narrative identity.