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The Gerontologist Advance Access originally published online on April 30, 2009
The Gerontologist 2009 49(3):303-316; doi:10.1093/geront/gnp035
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

The Development and Validation of the Age-Based Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire

Sonia K. Kang, MA1,2 and Alison L. Chasteen, PhD2

2 Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

1 Address correspondence to Sonia K. Kang, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G3. E-mail: sonia.kang{at}utoronto.ca


  Abstract

Purpose: There is much evidence suggesting that older adults are often negatively affected by aging stereotypes; however, no method to identify individual differences in vulnerability to these effects has yet been developed. The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid questionnaire to measure individual differences in the tendency to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and intensely react to age-based rejection among older adults: the Age-Based Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (RSQ-Age). Design and Methods: A pilot sample of older adults was asked to identify situations in which negative outcomes related to being an older adult might occur. From these responses, 58 scenarios representing 8 domains and themes were identified. Thirty initial items were created from this pool of scenarios, and this 30-item RSQ-Age underwent intensive testing and refinement to create the final 15-item RSQ-Age. The 15-item RSQ-Age was assessed for internal and test–retest reliability, as well as construct validity. Results: Results revealed that the RSQ-Age has good internal ({alpha} = .91) and test–retest, r(72) = .74, p < .01, reliability and is a valid measure of age-based rejection sensitivity (RS). Construct validity was supported by correlations with personal RS, age-based stigma consciousness, self-consciousness, awareness of ageism, and self-esteem. Implications: The RSQ-Age is a useful measure for researchers and health care workers interested in the relationships between expectancy, perceptions, and reactions to age-based stigma and subsequent cognitive, behavioral, and health-related consequences.

Keywords: Measurement, Psychometrics, Scale development, Ageism, Stigma

Received March 5, 2008; Accepted June 27, 2008

Decision Editor: William J. McAuley, PhD


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