Psychometric Properties of the Hong Psychological Reactance Scale

Abstract

The Hong Psychological Reactance Scale (HPRS; Hong & Felda, 1996) was developed to measure the individual difference in reactance proneness, that is, a person's trait propensity to experience psychological reactance. We performed confirmatory factor analyses to test the dimensionality of the 11-item version of the HPRS. Three message outcome variables (i.e., perceived threat to freedom, attitude, and intention) served as reference variables to test the construct validity of the HPRS. Data from 3 studies (Ns = 188, 200, and 233) of reactions to persuasive health messages confirmed the existence of 4 first-order factors but also provided evidence that the HPRS can be treated as unidimensional at the second order. The relationships between the second-order factor and the message outcome variables provided evidence of the validity of the scale.