Aspects of Identity Questionnaire-IV: An Examination of Structural Validity, Gender Invariance, and Relationships with Mental Health and Basic Psychological Needs Among Adolescents

Abstract

The present research evaluated evidence for structural and convergent validity and measurement invariance across gender of the Aspects of Identity Questionnaire-IV (AIQ-IV), which is designed to measure four identity orientations: Personal, Relational, Public, and Collective. We recruited two independent samples of Serbian adolescents aged 15–19 years (n₁ = 436, n₂ = 452). Both exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were applied to examine the factor structure of the AIQ-IV. The ESEM model with four factors demonstrated a superior fit to the data in both samples and resulted in well-defined factors and deflated latent factor correlations compared to the CFA model. Multiple-group analysis supported the scalar invariance of the four-factor ESEM model across gender. The evidence for the convergent validity of the ESEM AIQ-IV factors was supported by meaningful correlations with various mental health indicators (life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, internalizing behaviors, and externalizing behaviors) and basic psychological needs (autonomy, relatedness, and competence) satisfaction and frustration. Our findings support the use of AIQ-IV as a multidimensional measure of identity orientations among adolescents and confirm the usefulness of applying the ESEM framework to evaluate the validity aspects of this scale.

Disclosure Statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Data availability statement

All materials, including datasets and analysis syntaxes can be found at: https://osf.io/z6k9s.

Additional information

Funding

The study is financially supported by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, GRANT No. 1520 (Project title: Identity Orientations and Mental Health in Adolescence: Examining the Roles of Basic Psychological Needs and Culture—IDIOMATIC).