Need for emotional closure scale: testing for measurement invariance in Turkish and English versions

Abstract

Emotional closure is a feeling of subjective completeness of a past event evoking feelings of closure as opposed to openness. People might differ in need for emotional closure over past open experiences. In the current two studies, we aimed to create a valid scale to measure this need as a personality tendency. We asked participants (N = 265, N = 207, respectively) to fill out the constructed need for emotional closure scale in Turkish (Study-1) and in English (Study-2). Additionally, participants filled out the intolerance to uncertainty, ruminative responses, and need for cognitive closure scales in random order. We conducted a series of exploratory factor analyses in the Turkish version, which revealed four factors: Emotional disturbance, interpersonal discussions, bother, and regret. In Study-2, multi-group confirmatory factor analysis of the English adaptation showed an adequate fit. A measurement-invariant English version was created with high internal reliability and convergent validity. We discuss these findings concerning the importance of this tendency, why it can be a helpful measurement, and possible implications for clinical psychology literature.