Negative Partisanship Scale

Abstract

The Negative Partisanship Scale (NPS), also referred to as the Negative Party Identity (NPI) scale, is an instrument developed to quantify the degree of negative affect and aversion individuals hold toward specific political parties. Developed primarily for application in multiparty systems, such as those found in Germany and Italy, the scale consists of five items derived from expert interviews and subsequent empirical research. The authors rigorously tested the scale structure, assessed its reliability, and established its validity, ensuring its utility across diverse political contexts. Shorter versions were also developed to facilitate cross-national usability.

Keywords

Negative Partisanship, Negative Party Identity, Partisanship, Political Psychology, Multiparty Systems, Scale Development, Affective Polarization.

Authors

Mayer, Sabrina J., Russo, Luana.

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the NPS is to provide a standardized, empirically sound measure of negative partisanship. This construct captures the extent to which an individual defines their political identity not by allegiance to a preferred party, but by intense rejection or opposition to one or more specific rival parties. This measurement is particularly crucial in political science and psychological research focused on understanding the dynamics of political polarization and electoral behavior outside of traditional two-party frameworks.

The scale was explicitly designed to address the limitations inherent in traditional measures of party identification, which often fail to fully capture the intensity of negative feelings directed toward political opponents. This is especially relevant in complex European multiparty systems where negative orientation may prove to be a stronger predictor of political behavior than positive attachment.

Construct

The Negative Partisanship Scale measures Negative Party Identity (NPI). NPI is defined as a sociopsychological construct reflecting an individual’s persistent, affective, and cognitive rejection of a particular political party or its adherents. Unlike traditional positive identification, NPI focuses fundamentally on the ‘out-group’ rejection rather than ‘in-group’ loyalty.

The five items comprising the scale address various dimensions of this rejection, including the refusal to vote based on conflicting worldviews, the importance of non-adherence to one’s self-concept, emotional satisfaction from the party’s failure (emotional significance), perceived lack of commonality with the party’s voters (rejection of other adherents), and rejection based on historical political performance (longstanding trend). The authors conceptualize NPI as a single, unitary construct rather than one composed of distinct subdimensions.

Validity

The authors performed validation studies to confirm the psychometric soundness of the NPS. The validation process involved testing the scale’s ability to discriminate between individuals with high and low levels of negative affect toward political parties. While specific details regarding convergent, divergent, or criterion validity are not provided in the source abstract, the researchers confirmed that the scale structure was empirically tested.

The development process, which included expert interviews, suggests strong initial content validity. The subsequent empirical validation aimed to ensure that the scale accurately captures the intended construct of negative party identity within the context of multiparty systems, demonstrating that it measures what it purports to measure.

Reliability

The reliability of the Negative Partisanship Scale was established through standard psychometric analyses. High reliability ensures that the scale provides consistent measurements across different administrations and samples. Although the specific reliability coefficients (e.g., Cronbach’s alpha) are not detailed in the source content, the authors confirm that the scale passed necessary tests for internal consistency, validating its use as a cohesive measurement tool for negative party identification.

Factor Analysis

The researchers treat the Negative Party Identity (NPI) construct measured by the scale as a compensatory measure. This approach implies that the scale is intended to function as a single, unified dimension, rather than a collection of separate factors or subdimensions. The decision to treat NPI as a compensatory measure, for which a mean index is used over all items, suggests that initial factor analysis results or theoretical reasoning did not support a multidimensional structure.

Therefore, the scale is scored by averaging the responses of the items. This methodology treats each item as contributing equally to the overall score of negative partisanship, reinforcing the interpretation of NPI as a holistic, singular construct of political aversion.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychological and political attitudes scale.

Format: Items are rated using a 7-point scale (Likert-type format). The final score is derived using a mean index calculated across all five items, consistent with the treatment of the scale as a compensatory measure.

Language Available: Developed initially for European multiparty systems (e.g., German and Italian contexts). Specific translations beyond initial testing languages are not specified, but shorter versions were developed to aid cross-country use.

Population Group: General adult population (voters/citizens).

Age Group: Adults (18+).

Population Details: Targeted toward populations residing in countries characterized by complex, multi-party political structures, particularly in Europe.

Test Methodology: Standard survey administration, typically self-administered, requiring respondents to rate their level of agreement or feeling toward a specified political party on the 7-point scale.

Keywords

Political Psychometrics, Political Identity, Negative Affect, European Politics, Partisan Bias, Scale Validation.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not Specified.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not Specified.

Correspondence Address: Not Specified.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 2024 (Publication Year).

Permissions and Fee: Information regarding specific licensing or usage fees is not provided in the source material. Researchers should consult the primary publication source for details on obtaining permission for academic or commercial use.

Reference’s

Mayer, Sabrina J., & Russo, Luana. (2024). What one is not: A new scale to measure Negative Party Identity in multiparty systems. Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Vol 58(3), 2887-2906. doi: 10.1007/s11135-023-01793-7.

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Items of the Negative Partisanship Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.