Development and validation of the Adult Interpersonal Acceptance–Rejection Scale: Measuring mother, best friend, and romantic partner acceptance.

Acceptance-rejection studies and inventories commonly examine children's relationships with parents, but no measurement scale is available in the literature to assess interpersonal acceptance across adulthood close relationships. The Adult Interpersonal Acceptance-Rejection Scale (AIARS) was developed, validated, and psychometrically scrutinized across three studies using independent samples of adult participants. In Study 1 (N = 342), the created items were administered to participants and data were subjected to exploratory factor analysis. The correlated three-factor structure of Mother Acceptance, Best Friend Acceptance, and Romantic Partner Acceptance was preliminarily supported. In Study 2 (N = 420), confirmatory factor analysis successfully cross-validated the three-factor measurement model after the deletion of items possessing the poorest loadings. In Study 3 (N = 315), convergent, discriminant, and criterion validities were scrutinized with tests of correlations and multiple regression. Higher acceptance subscale scores uniquely contributed to higher positive emotions, lower negative emotions, and higher life satisfaction. The current research confers measurement and assessment insights to capture the construct of interpersonal acceptance and yields applied implications for future research using the scale. Administration of the scale is anticipated to encourage novel primary investigations that examine acceptance across pivotal close relationships in adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).