Evidences of reliability and validity of the dispositional envy scale in Argentinian samples

Abstract

The emotional experience of envy goes through different cultures. However, few instruments have been developed for its measurement. Smith et al. (1999) proposed the Dispositional Envy Scale (DES), which has shown good validity properties, stability and internal consistency in psychometric studies conducted with U.S. and Brazilian samples. This research aimed at evaluating the psychometric properties of validity and reliability of the DES with samples of participants from Cordoba, Argentina, university students (n = 399) and adults from general population (n = 316). Furthermore, the Psychological Entitlement Scale and the Subjective Happiness Scale were applied. Analysis of exploratory and confirmatory factor structure provided evidence about the unidimensionality of the scale. Evidence of adequate internal consistency was obtained. Besides, envy was positively related to entitlement and it was negatively related to subjective happiness.

Keywords

• Dispositional Envy Scale
• Psychometry
• factor structure
• internal consistency.