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Development and Validation of the Awareness of Narrative Identity Questionnaire (ANIQ)

Version 2 2024-06-03, 18:21
Version 1 2016-01-06, 11:33
journal contribution
posted on 2024-06-03, 18:21 authored by David HallfordDavid Hallford, David MellorDavid Mellor
The utility of a narrative approach to identity and its role in psychological functioning are becoming increasingly recognized across various fields of inquiry. The current study aimed to develop a quantitative, self-report measure of the awareness of narrative identity and how globally coherent one’s autobiographical memories are perceived to be, specifically, in terms of temporal ordering, causal associations, and the perception of unifying themes. The construct validity and reliability of the Awareness of Narrative Identity Questionnaire (ANIQ) were assessed across three studies. In the first study, exploratory factor analysis of the responses of a large sample ( N = 441, M [age in years] = 33.1, SD = 15.2) to an initial item pool resulted in a 20-item four-factor structure congruent with the proposed subscales, and convergent and divergent validity were established. In the second study, and with a different sample ( N = 320, M [age in years] = 26.2, SD = 4.0), further evidence for the factor structure was provided through confirmatory factor analysis. Validity findings from Study 1 were replicated and extended on, and test–retest reliabilities were found to be high ( r = .72-.79). Importantly, in the third study ( N = 71, M [age in years] = 24.9, SD = 6.9), criterion validity was established, whereby the ANIQ subscales were demonstrated to be associated with dimensions of narrative coherence coded from written turning-point narratives. Across all studies, the internal reliabilities for the subscales were high (α = .86-.96). The ANIQ represents a valid, psychometrically sound, and novel method of assessing the awareness of narrative identity and autobiographical memory coherence.

History

Journal

Assessment

Volume

24

Pagination

399-413

Location

United States

ISSN

1073-1911

eISSN

1552-3489

Language

English

Publication classification

C Journal article, C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2015, The Authors

Issue

3

Publisher

SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC