The General Mattering Scale, the Anti-Mattering Scale, and the Fear of Not Mattering Inventory: Psychometric Properties and Links with Distress and Hope Among Chinese University Students

Figures & data

Table 1 Mean and the Correlation Among the Observed Variables

	Mean (SD)	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1. General mattering (range:5–20)	13.10 (3.03)	1.00
2. Anti-mattering (range: 5–20)	10.93 (3.56)	−0.30	1.00
3. Fear of not mattering (range: 0–15)	4.14 (3.24)	−0.04^a	0.53	1.00
4. Psychological distress (range:0–24)	4.91 (5.04)	−0.28	0.52	0.42	1.00
5. Hope_Overall (range:8–32)	22.85 (4.66)	0.38	−0.32	−0.22	−0.36	1.00
6. Hope_Agency (range:4–16)	11.16 (2.37)	0.39	−0.33	−0.21	−0.37	0.95	1.00
7. Hope_Pathways (range:4–16)	11.69 (2.54)	0.34	−0.27	−0.22	−0.31	0.95	0.80	1.00

Notes: ^aThe pair correlation here had a p-value of 0.03 while all other coefficients met p<0.01.

Table 2 Model Fit Among the Three Mattering Scales

	χ^2 (df)	CFI	NNFI	RMSEA (90% Confidence Interval)	SRMR
General mattering scale	53.25 (5)	0.994	0.988	0.052 (0.040–0.065)	0.033
Anti-mattering scale	20.47 (5)	0.999	0.998	0.029 (0.017–0.043)	0.019
Fear of Not Mattering Inventory	23.41 (5)	0.998	0.997	0.032 (0.020–0.046)	0.022
Measurement model of three mattering scales	383.08 (87)	0.994	0.993	0.031 (0.028–0.034)	0.032

Abbreviations: CFI, comparative fit index; NNFI, non-normed fit index; RMSEA, root mean square error of approximation; SRMR, standardized root mean square residual.

Table 3 Psychometric Properties of Three Mattering Scales in Item Level

	Factor Loadings	Item–Rest Correlation	Infit MnSq	Outfit MnSq	Difficulty	Difficulty (Male)	Difficulty (Female)	DIF Contrast	Likelihood Ratio Test	Adj.p
General Mattering Scale McDonald’s ω=0.87; AVE=0.575
Item 1. How much do other people depend upon you?	0.69	0.64	0.92	0.89	0.28	0.41	0.14	−0.27	22.87	<0.01
Item 2. How much do others pay attention to you?	0.70	0.65	0.88	0.87	0.57	0.40	0.75	0.35	37.80	0.03
Item 3. How important are you to others?	0.84	0.76	0.69	0.66	−0.07	−0.07	−0.06	0.01	0.39	0.95
Item 4. How much would you be missed if you went away?	0.80	0.73	0.75	0.74	−0.45	−0.37	−0.52	−0.15	0.04	0.85
Item 5. How interested are others in what you have to say?	0.72	0.66	0.85	0.81	−0.34	−0.37	−0.31	0.06	0.29	0.93
Anti-Mattering Scale McDonald’s ω=0.91; AVE=0.668
Item 1. How much do you feel like you do not matter?	0.80	0.75	0.95	0.92	0.12	0.11	0.13	0.02	0.13	1.00
Item 2. How much do you feel like you will never matter to certain people?	0.79	0.75	0.97	0.95	−0.44	−0.39	−0.49	−0.10	0.00	1.00
Item 3. How often have you been made to feel by someone that they do not care what you think or what you have to say?	0.85	0.80	0.71	0.69	−0.20	−0.25	−0.14	0.11	0.58	1.00
Item 4. How often have you been treated in a way that makes you feel like you are insignificant?	0.84	0.79	0.76	0.73	0.15	0.08	0.21	0.13	5.38	0.10
Item 5. To what extent have you been made to feel like you are invisible	0.82	0.77	0.88	0.85	0.37	0.45	0.28	−0.17	1.87	0.86
Fear of Not Mattering Inventory McDonald’s ω=0.92; AVE=0.706
Item 1	0.82	0.79	0.80	0.76	−0.26	−0.20	−0.33	−0.13	1.09	1.00
Item 2	0.82	0.78	0.81	0.77	0.43	0.37	0.50	0.13	1.73	0.95
Item 3	0.89	0.85	0.57	0.54	0.28	0.21	0.35	0.14	1.09	1.00
Item 4	0.83	0.79	0.79	0.75	−0.52	−0.41	−0.65	−0.24	1.88	0.85
Item 5	0.84	0.80	0.76	0.73	0.08	0.03	0.13	0.10	2.71	0.49

Notes: Non-uniform DIF; Adj. p= The adjusted p-values by likelihood ratio test using Bonferroni comparison.

Abbreviations: AVE, Average variance extracted; MnSq, mean square.

Figure 1 Wright map of three mattering scales: (a). General Mattering Scale; (b). Anti-Mattering Scale; (c). Fear of Not Mattering Inventory.

Table 4 Regression of Psychological Distress and Hope

	Psychological Distress		Hope		Psychological Distress		Hope		Psychological Distress		Hope		Psychological Distress		Hope
	Model 1				Model 2				Model 3				Model 4
	Estimate (se)	β	Estimate (se)	β	Estimate (se)	β	Estimate (se)	β	Estimate (se)	β	Estimate (se)	β	Estimate (se)	β	Estimate (se)	β
Sex (Male)	0.03 (0.02)	0.06	−0.01 (0.02)	−0.01	0.06 (0.02)	0.11**	−0.04 (0.02)	−0.07*	0.01 (0.02)	0.03	−0.02 (0.02)	−0.03	0.01 (0.01)	0.02	−0.02 (0.02)	−0.03
Sibling (Yes)	−0.10 (0.02)	−0.20**	−0.04 (0.03)	−0.07	−0.10 (0.02)	−0.20**	−0.04 (0.03)	−0.08	−0.09 (0.02)	−0.19**	−0.05 (0.02)	−0.08	−0.10 (0.02)	−0.20**	−0.04 (0.02)	−0.07
School-type (Four-year)	0.04 (0.02)	0.07	−0.05 (0.02)	−0.09*	0.03 (0.02)	0.07	−0.05 (0.02)	−0.09*	0.04 (0.02)	0.08*	−0.05 (0.02)	−0.10*	0.04 (0.02)	0.08*	−0.05 (0.02)	−0.09*
General mattering					−0.31 (0.02)	−0.29**	0.44 (0.02)	0.37**	−0.16 (0.02)	−0.15**	0.36 (0.02)	0.30**	−0.19 (0.02)	−0.18**	0.38 (0.02)	0.32**
Anti-mattering									0.36 (0.01)	0.46**	−0.18 (0.01)	−0.21**	0.25 (0.01)	0.32**	−0.11 (0.02)	−0.13**
Fear of not mattering													0.21 (0.01)	0.25**	−0.13 (0.02)	−0.14**
R^2 or ΔR^2	0.01		0.02		0.08**		0.14**		0.19**		0.04**		0.04**		0.01**

Notes: The terms provided in parentheses beneath the variable names serve as the baseline reference group; *p<0.05, **p<0.01; R² of mode 4 on psychological distress and hope was 0.32 and 0.19 respectively.