Reliability and validity of the interpersonal rejection sensitivity scale: a multicultural study

Six decades of research on parental acceptance-rejection led to the formulation of interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory's personality subtheory (IPARTheory, personality subtheory). The subtheory predicts that interpersonal rejection sensitivity is likely to be one of the personality dispositions resulting universally from the effects of perceived parental rejection in childhood. The subtheory also predicts that this effect is likely to extend into adulthood and throughout the remainder of life. Research focusing on interpersonal rejection sensitivity is underrepresented in the rejection sensitivity literature, however. Therefore, drawing from IPARTheory's personality subtheory we constructed the Interpersonal Rejection Sensitivity Scale (IRSS) to remedy that gap. Subsequent international research and research in the US has shown the IRSS to be a valid and reliable measure of interpersonal rejection sensitivity for use in cross-cultural comparative research. This paper highlights the factor structure of the IRSS and its measurement invariance across eight cultures (N = 3,083). Findings indicate that the IRSS is partially invariant across these eight countries. The study also found that adults organize their feelings of interpersonal rejection sensitivity around a single factor in all these countries. The partial measurement invariance of the measure across populations internationally provides additional evidence for the likely universality of central postulates in IPARTheory's personality subtheory.