Italian Adaptation and Validation of the Dispositional Envy Scale

Abstract

This paper aimed at translating and validating the Dispositional Envy Scale (DES) into Italian and testing the concurrent validity with a projective technique. Two studies were conducted on a general population (study 1, N=154) (45.4% males; Mage=37.49; SD=14.57) and university student sample (study 2, N=233) (17.2% males; Mage=20.20; SD=2.70). Participants completed envy, gratitude, social desirability, aggression and career adaptability measures, and a completion test to measure envy related responses (empathic identification, mania, frustration and destructiveness). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses suggest that the DES is not unidimensional but shows two correlated components referring to hostility (6 items) and inferiority (2 items), with the former possessing a satisfactory reliability and forms of convergent evidence with other measures and the latter not providing enough robust evidence in measuring envy. No association with destructiveness as proper envy was found with both the components, but only a moderate correlation with frustration, revealing the different nature of the constructs underlying the DES and the projective technique.