Digital Jealousy Scale (DJS)

Abstract

The Digital Jealousy Scale (DJS), developed by Gubler et al. (2023), is a specialized psychological instrument designed to quantify feelings of romantic jealousy that are specifically instigated by interactions or observations made via social media and other forms of online communication. The DJS is widely applicable across various digital platforms, including prominent ones like Facebook and YouTube. It operationalizes social media-induced jealousy (SoMJ) as a single, unidimensional construct, encompassing the cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of jealousy, aligning with established theoretical models (Muise et al., 2009; Tandon et al., 2020).

The final version of the DJS comprises nine items. Its rigorous development and validation process involved collecting data from three diverse samples across Germany and the United Kingdom. Following established standards, such as the ITC Guidelines for Translating and Adapting Tests, the items were translated into English and subjected to subsequent back-translation into German. Psychometric testing, including Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), confirmed the hypothesized one-factor structure, demonstrating excellent model fit. The scale’s high internal consistency, strong construct validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and measurement invariance were extensively reported, supporting its utility in digital relationship research.

Keywords

Digital Jealousy, Romantic Jealousy, Social Media-Induced Jealousy, Psychometrics, Scale Validation, Online Communication.

Authors

Gubler, Danièle Anne, Schlegel, Katja, Richter, Marina, Kapanci, Tugba, Troche, Stefan Johannes.

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the Digital Jealousy Scale (DJS) is to provide a reliable and validated measure specifically tailored to capture social media-induced romantic jealousy. Unlike traditional jealousy scales that focus on offline interactions, the DJS isolates and quantifies the emotional and behavioral responses that arise from monitoring, observing, or interpreting relationship-relevant information encountered through digital platforms.

Construct

The DJS measures Social Media-Induced Jealousy (SoMJ), which is defined as romantic jealousy triggered by digital interactions. This construct is specifically conceived as unidimensional, meaning that although it incorporates multiple facets—cognitive (suspicious thoughts), affective (emotional distress), and behavioral (monitoring or confronting actions)—these aspects load onto a single underlying factor of digital jealousy severity. The development of the scale was grounded in existing models of general romantic jealousy, adapted to the unique context of social networking environments where ambiguous information and high levels of surveillance are common.

Validity

The validation process established robust evidence across several critical validity domains.

Construct Validity: The DJS demonstrated strong evidence for construct validity. Fit indices derived from the model, which included a freely estimated correlation between the two latent variables (DJS and general romantic jealousy), showed an excellent fit: χ2(151) = 186.146, p = .027, CFI = .998, RMSEA = .019, and SRMR = .042. A very strong positive correlation (r = .861) was observed between digital jealousy and traditional romantic jealousy, confirming that the DJS measures a concept highly overlapping with, yet distinct from, general jealousy. Furthermore, the DJS exhibited theoretically congruent associations with established psychological constructs, including self-esteem, attachment styles, and the Big Five personality dimensions, mirroring patterns seen with more general romantic jealousy scales.

Convergent Validity: Convergent validity was assessed in the English sample by comparing the DJS with an established Facebook jealousy scale using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The SEM model achieved a good fit to the data: χ2(593) = 697.298, p = .002, CFI = .997, RMSEA = .028, and SRMR = .075. Crucially, the analysis revealed a very strong positive correlation (r = .873) between the DJS and the Facebook jealousy measure, providing substantial support for the DJS measuring the intended online jealousy construct.

Reliability

The reliability analyses confirmed that the DJS possesses high internal consistency across the samples tested.

Internal Consistency: Measures of internal consistency were consistently high. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients across the samples were reported to be ≥.89. Similarly, the omega (ω) coefficients were calculated at ≥.90. These coefficients indicate that the nine items within the DJS measure the underlying construct of digital jealousy with strong reliability and precision.

Factor Analysis

The scale development relied heavily on advanced statistical methods to confirm the structural integrity of the DJS.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis: The final, streamlined 9-item DJS was confirmed to be one-dimensional. This conclusion was reached through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), which supported the theoretical proposition that Social Media-Induced Jealousy functions as a single construct rather than multiple distinct factors in the digital context.

Measurement Invariance: The study successfully established strict invariance across two key demographic variables: gender (male vs. female) and relationship status (singles vs. non-singles). Establishing strict invariance is vital as it confirms that the meaning and measurement properties of the DJS items are consistent across these groups. Therefore, any observed differences in DJS scores between men and women or between singles and non-singles can be attributed to genuine variations in the level of digital jealousy rather than methodological artifacts or differences in how respondents interpret the scale items.

Instrument

Test Type: Original

Format: Items are rated on a six-point Likert response scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree).

Language Available: English; German

Population Group: Male; Female

Age Group: Adolescence (13-17 yrs); Adulthood (18 yrs & older); Young Adulthood (18-29 yrs); Thirties (30-39 yrs); Middle Age (40-64 yrs)

Population Details:

• Location: Germany; United Kingdom

• Respondents: University Students; German-Speaking Adults; English-Speaking Adults; Individuals in a Committed Romantic Relationship; Individuals Not in a Committed Romantic Relationship

Test Methodology: Test Validity; Construct Validity; Convergent Validity; Discriminant Validity; Test Reliability; Internal Consistency; Factor Analysis; Confirmatory Factor Analysis; Measurement Invariance; Structural Equation Modeling

Keywords

Digital Jealousy, Romantic Jealousy, Social Media-Induced Jealousy, Psychological Assessment, Scale Development, Relationship Research.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier:

• Gubler, Danièle Anne: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4317-9939

• Schlegel, Katja: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3768-5544

• Troche, Stefan Johannes: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0961-1081

Affiliation Email addresses:

• Gubler, Danièle Anne: University of Bern, Department of Psychology

• Schlegel, Katja: University of Bern, Department of Psychology

• Richter, Marina: University of Witten/Herdecke, Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy

• Kapanci, Tugba: University of Witten/Herdecke, Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy

• Troche, Stefan Johannes: University of Bern, Department of Psychology

Correspondence Address: Troche, Stefan Johannes: University of Bern, Institute of Psychology, Fabrikstrasse 8, Bern, Switzerland, 3012, [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: Contact Corresponding Author

Fee: No

Test Year: 2023

References

Gubler, D. A., Schlegel, K., Richter, M., Kapanci, T., & Troche, S. J. (2023). The green-eyed monster in social media – Development and validation of a Digital Jealousy Scale. Psychological Test Adaptation and Development, 4(1), 13–27. https://doi.org/10.1027/2698-1866/a000033

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Items of the Digital Jealousy Scale (DJS)

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

No data is Available