A Validation Study of the Need for Affect Questionnaire–Short Form in Legal Contexts

Abstract

We evaluated the psychometric properties of scores on the Need for Affect-Short Form (NAQ-S) in 3 samples: undergraduate students (Sample I), jury-eligible community members (Sample II), and forensic clinicians (Sample III). Concerning factor structure, the NAQ-S 2-factor structure displayed good fit to the data in Sample I, with mostly acceptable levels of internal consistency for both approach and avoidance scores. Construct validity patterns were observed such that approach scores were most strongly correlated with female gender and trait agreeableness scores, whereas avoidance scores were most strongly correlated to trait agreeableness scores. Criterion validity associations emerged in that approach scores displayed main effects on mock juror judgments in hate crimes, and forensic clinician judgments of violence risk estimation. Finally, avoidance scores displayed moderating effects on recommended sentencing length by hate crime victim type. Implications are discussed for emotion in legal decision making and future research.

Preferences in Information Processing, Marginalized Identity, and Non-Monogamy: Understanding Factors in Suicide-Related Behavior among Members of the Alternative Sexuality Community

“…Nine items were reverse coded before summing responses, with higher scores indicating greater engagement in and enjoyment of thinking. The NFC scale demonstrated good internal consistency [50,55], and among the current sample, the internal consistency of the NFC was also good (α = 0.85).…”

“…Specifically, Need for Affect (NFA) [53,54], or one's willingness to approach or avoid affective experiences and content, is thought to directly impact suicide as a risk factor to the extent to which one prefers to avoid emotionally-based experiences. Moreover, NFA is comprised of two facets, namely NFA Avoidance (i.e., extent to which one evades emotional experience and expression) and NFA Approach (i.e., degree to which one intentionally seeks affective experience and expression) [53,55]. Illustrative examples of each NFA construct are as follows.…”

“…A series of studies [20,50,57,58] have applied the PIP to suicide risk in non-clinical samples. The most robust main effect observed to date concerns NFA Avoidance as a risk factor for suicide [50,55,58], possibly through association with the development of perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness [57]. NFA and NFC have both shown sample-specific moderating roles.…”

Preferences in Information Processing and suicide: Results from a young adult health survey in the United Kingdom

“…Where appropriate, emotionally-avoidant attitude reduction may become a target of therapy in order to improve factors contributing to the patient's suicidality. Normative data and psychometrics properties for the NAQ-S exist in non-clinical samples (Appel et al, 2012;Cramer, Wevodau et al, 2017). A logical next step would be to establish norms and psychometrics in clinical or high-risk populations in order to test the scale's utility in formal risk assessment and treatment monitoring.…”

How to Avoid the Sins of Questionnaire Abridgement - guideline

“…The last stage consists of comparing the properties assumed a priori with the properties obtained e.g. in the pilot study, and if necessary also considering the various contexts in which the tool might be used (see also Cramer, Wevodau, Gardner, & Bryson, 2017).…”