A Questionnaire Measure of Individual Differences in Dominance-Submissiveness

Abstract

Reliability and validity data are reported for a questionnaire measure of individual differences in dominance-submissiveness. The measure was based on an initial set of 457 items which was subsequently augmented by an additional 62 rewritten and new items. The initial pool of items, which was carefully constructed to assure broad generality, contained 64 content groups representing various aspects of dominance-submissiveness. The final 48-item dominance-submissiveness questionnaire, which was balanced for response bias, had high internal consistency (Kuder-Richardson formula 20 coefficient was equal to .95). It was independent of social desirability (correlated .08 with the Crowne and Marlowe social desirability scale). As the scale also satisfied the requirements of low correlations with measures of trait pleasure ( r = .14) and arousability (r = -.10), it can thus be used with these two measures for a three-dimensional characterization of temperament. Correlations with other available measures of dominance were significant and high.

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