Psychometric properties of the brief accessibility, responsiveness, and engagement scale in a community sample of Turkish adults

Abstract

Objective The current study explored the psychometric properties of the Brief Accessibility, Responsivity, and Engagement (BARE) scale in a sample of Turkish adults in ongoing committed relationships (N = 509).

Background The sense of safety that results from accessibility, responsiveness, and engagement in a romantic relationship predicts more positive expectations and affect about one's partner, as well as better emotion regulation and communication skills in a relationship. However, there are no studies investigating the measurement of these behaviors in the context of Turkish culture.

Method The data for this study were collected through either social media and online listservs or three college campuses in Istanbul from November 2016 to June 2017. Participants were 27.26 (SD = 9.82) years old on average and mostly women (82.9%, n = 422), and approximately one quarter were married (23.4%, n = 121).

Results Results showed that the BARE scale demonstrated good internal and test-retest reliability, as well as adequate concurrent and discriminant validity. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the 12-item structure of the BARE scale, but there was no support for the 2-item by six-subscale structure in the Turkish sample. Due to the high overlap between the BARE Self and Partner subscales, the scale appears to be a single-factor measure when used in the Turkish context with a community sample of adults in romantic relationships.

Conclusion Further research is needed to test the BARE scale's psychometric qualities among distressed and clinical samples, using reports of both partners.