A Contribution To The Italian Validation Of The Higgins' Regulatory Focus Questionnaire

Gray's Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory and Higgins' Regulatory Focus Theory are two of the most relevant theories on approach and avoidance tendencies. Gray's theory considers approach and avoidance as biological sensitivities that guide individuals to reach primary needs. Higgins' theory, on the contrary, states that approach-avoidance tendencies influence self-regulation and guide individuals to reach secondary needs. While the Italian validation of the BIS-BAS scale relative to Gray's theory has been developed, an Italian version of the Regulatory focus questionnaire (RFQ) relative to Higgins theory has not been developed yet.The aim of our study is to provide a contribution to develop an Italian version of the RFQ. From the exploratory factorial analysis (n = 83 university students, mean age = 22.89, DS = 6.07) and the subsequent confirmatory factorial analysis (n = 360, mean age = 34.91, DS = 13.41), a solid factorial structure and a good internal validity emerged. In the invariance analysis, the structure was partially equivalent across genders, except for a single item. Finally, the examination of divergent validity showed that the regulatory foci identified by RFQ are constructs distinct from the ones identified by the BIS-BAS scale.In conclusion, our Italian version of the RFQ shows satisfactory psychometric properties and parsimonious structure, and thus seems to be a valuable instrument for measuring approach-avoidance according to Higgins' theory.