Development and validation of the Romantic Experience Uncertainty Scale (REUS)

Contemporary romantic experiences are increasingly heterogeneous, highlighting the need for instruments capable of capturing their nuanced dimensions, such as uncertainty and ambiguity. This study aimed to develop and validate a scale to measure these dimensions within adolescents’ and young adults’ romantic relationships. The scale development employed a sequential and multiphase design consisting of: identification of the conceptual domain and item generation through focus groups; preliminary pilot study to evaluate item clarity and relevance; item analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis to examine underlying factor structure; Confirmatory Factor Analysis to assess psychometric properties and the test of concurrent and discriminant validity. Three main factors emerged: partners’ uncertainty, relationship uncertainty and behavioral ambiguity. The resulting scale (REUS) demonstrated good internal consistency, strong model fit indices, good reliability as well as concurrent and discriminant validity, thus constituting a valid and reliable instrument to investigate uncertainty and ambiguity in adolescents’ and young adults’ romantic experiences.