Fear of Rejection: Scale Development and Validation

Abstract

The present article tries to define the construct of fear of rejection and describes the development of the fear of rejection scale.  Fear of rejection can be defined as an irrational fear of being rejected before making any actual attempt.  It may be the result of continuous rejection in the past. Fear of rejection can hamper the daily functioning of the person and hence affecting the overall physical and psychological health.  It is a grave social problem getting its roots deepening in the lives of adolescents and young adults to be dealt with.  The scale so developed was administered to 400 adolescents to determine its factor structure and the data collected were subjected to factor analysis by using SPSS 20.  Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was carried out and varimax rotation technique was used for rotating the factors.  PCA yielded simple three-factor structure.  The three factors accounted for 52.38% of the variance.  The present scale can be used for further research and for development programs in school/universities and organizations.