Desire Intolerance Questionnaire (DIQ)

Abstract

The Desire Intolerance Questionnaire (DIQ), developed by Veilleux and colleagues in 2023, is a 10-item self-report measure designed to assess an individual’s inability or unwillingness to tolerate the internal experience of desire. Specifically, it targets the difficulty in “sitting with” the motivation to approach a rewarding object or task. The initial development followed theoretical guidelines, such as those proposed by Clark & Watson (1995), intending to refine the measure through rigorous psychometric analyses. The resulting DIQ was validated across diverse samples, including adult participants recruited online and college students, with comprehensive reporting on its factor structure, reliability, and validity.

Keywords

Desire Intolerance Assessment, Approach Motivation, Distress Intolerance, Incremental Validity, Motivation, Desire, Approach Avoidance, Motivation Measures, Psychological Assessment.

Authors

Veilleux, Jennifer C., Higuera, Danielle E., Warner, Elise A., Schreiber, Regina E., Brott, Katherine Hyde, Clift, Jeremy B.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Desire Intolerance Questionnaire (DIQ) is to provide a psychometrically sound and efficient indicator of the difficulties individuals face when attempting to withstand active desires. This scale aims to move beyond related constructs, such as general distress, to isolate the specific intolerance of the motivational state of wanting.

By accurately measuring this unique construct, the DIQ facilitates a better understanding of intolerance as a transdiagnostic clinical phenomenon. The concept of desire intolerance has clinical relevance in various forms of psychopathology characterized by impulsive or compulsive behaviors, where the immediate need to satisfy a want overrides control.

Construct

The DIQ measures the construct of Desire Intolerance, defined as the subjective inability to tolerate the motivational drive or urgency associated with approaching a desired outcome. This construct emphasizes the aversive nature of the internal state of wanting itself, rather than the distress caused by external factors or the consequences of desire frustration.

Unlike related concepts like low self-control, which focuses on regulatory failure, desire intolerance specifically captures the emotional and cognitive unwillingness to endure the feeling of desire when immediate action is not taken or is constrained. The scale captures the experience of desire as “active, present, and urgent.”

Validity

The DIQ demonstrated robust evidence of validity across multiple domains, supporting its use as a measure of desire intolerance.

Convergent Validity: The scale showed expected associations with theoretically related constructs. Higher desire intolerance was moderately and negatively correlated with lower trait self-control (r = −.58, p < .001). This finding confirms that individuals who struggle to tolerate their desires also report lower general capacity for self-regulation.

Concurrent Validity: Higher scores on desire intolerance were associated with greater behavioral inhibition, suggesting that the psychological discomfort arising from unfulfilled desire may lead to maladaptive avoidance or freezing behaviors when confronted with motivational conflict.

Incremental Validity: The DIQ demonstrated Incremental Validity over established measures. When controlling for factors such as trait self-control, sensitivity to reward, and sensitivity to punishment, the joint contribution of desire intolerance and distress intolerance accounted for significant unique variance across a range of examined outcomes. These outcomes included symptoms of psychopathology and related traits, such as self-criticism and dichotomous thinking, though the measure did not significantly predict variance in alcohol misuse beyond the control variables.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the Desire Intolerance Questionnaire was found to be excellent across the validation samples. The overall coefficient alpha (internal consistency) for the 10-item scale was reported as $alpha = .93$.

Further analysis using random half splits confirmed the high reliability, with the first random half yielding $alpha = .92$ and the second random half yielding $alpha = .93$. These strong reliability coefficients suggest that the items within the DIQ consistently measure the same underlying construct.

Factor Analysis

The development of the DIQ involved both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to determine its dimensional structure.

Exploratory Factor Analysis: Initial EFA, guided by a scree plot and parallel analysis using a Monte Carlo simulation, suggested either a one- or two-factor solution. While a two-factor solution emerged, the first factor accounted for a substantial majority of the variance (57.27%), while the second factor explained only an additional 7.39%. Crucially, the second factor included only the three reverse-scored items, indicating that it was likely an artifact of the scoring method rather than a distinct content factor. Based on this evidence, the measure was determined to be unidimensional, representing a single construct of desire intolerance.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis: Following the removal of problematic items, the final single-factor structure was tested using CFA. The model demonstrated acceptable fit indices: $chi^2(35) = 90.37$, $p < .001$, $chi^2/df = 2.58$, CFI (Comparative Fit Index) $= .97$, RMSEA (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation) $= .08$ (90% CI [.06, .10]), and AIC (Akaike Information Criterion) $= 150.37$. These results support the use of the DIQ as a measure of a single, coherent construct.

Instrument

Test Type: Original rating scale.

Format: Items are rated on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1=Not at all like me to 6=Extremely like me.

Language Available: English.

Population Group: Human (Male and Female).

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years & older).

Population Details: Respondents included online adult participants and college students located in the United States.

Test Methodology: Test Validity (Concurrent Validity, Convergent Validity, Incremental Validity); Test Reliability (Internal Consistency); Factor Analysis (Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis).

Keywords

Motivation, Desire, Approach Avoidance, Self-Control, Psychopathology, Unidimensionality, Psychological Assessment.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Veilleux, Jennifer C.: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9050-8793

Affiliation Email addresses:

• Veilleux, Jennifer C.: University of Arkansas, Department of Psychological Science ([email protected])
• Higuera, Danielle E.: University of Arkansas, Department of Psychological Science (No data is Available)
• Warner, Elise A.: University of Arkansas, Department of Psychological Science (No data is Available)
• Schreiber, Regina E.: University of Arkansas, Department of Psychological Science (No data is Available)
• Brott, Katherine Hyde: University of Arkansas, Department of Psychological Science (No data is Available)
• Clift, Jeremy B.: University of Arkansas, Department of Psychological Science (No data is Available)

Correspondence Address: Veilleux, Jennifer C.: University of Arkansas, Department of Psychological Science, 216 Memorial Hall, Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States, 72701, [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: May use for Research/Teaching.

Fee: No.

Test Year: 2023.

Reference’s

Veilleux, J. C., Higuera, D. E., Warner, E. A., Schreiber, R. E., Brott, K. H., & Clift, J. B. (2023). I can’t handle my desires: Development and validation of a self-report measure of desire intolerance and associations with distress intolerance. Psychological Assessment, 35(12), 1134–1151. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0001275

Items of the Desire Intolerance Questionnaire (DIQ)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way. The Desire Intolerance Questionnaire is a 10-item scale. The specific items are available in the Appendix of the source reference (Page 18).

Instructions

Below you will see questions asking about your feelings of “wanting.” These questions are asking about moments of wanting, where you might want some object (i.e., a new shirt or game) and/or you might want to do something (i.e., eat candy, drink a glass of wine, yell at your sister). These questions are asking about moments where the wanting is active, present, and feels urgent.

Response Scale

(1) Not at all like me
(2) A little like me
(3) Somewhat like me
(4) Mostly like me
(5) Definitely like me
(6) Extremely like me

Items

1. I do not tolerate the feeling of wanting very well.

2. When I want something, it feels like I need to have it right now.

3. There is nothing worse than that feeling of wanting something and not getting it.

4. When I really want to do something, the desire is all-consuming.

5. I can tolerate wanting things as well as most people. (Reversed Scored)

6. Wanting to do something and not doing it is unbearable to me.

7. When I really want something, I cannot think of reasons why I should wait to pursue it.

8. When I really want to do something, I feel a kind of physical squirminess until I get to do what I want.

9. I cannot handle wanting something and not getting it.

10. That feeling of wanting to do something and not getting to do it is really frustrating for me.