Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Need for Privacy Scale.

Introduction: The need for privacy is a high-order psychological need of human, which is closely related to human mental health problems in the digital age. The Need for Privacy Scale (NFP-S) is a reliable measure of need for privacy. This study tested its psychometric characteristics among Chinese populations.

Methods: Firstly, we modified and translated the NFP-S into Chinese version (NFP-SC). Subsequently, we invited 15 participants to complete pre testing of the NFP-SC and determined the final version. Next, we collected questionnaire data from 1130 participants for confirmatory factor analysis to confirm factor structure and validate convergent validity.

Results: The results showed that the bifactor Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (bifactor-ESEM) could better reflect the potential structure of NFP-SC, which included one general factor of need for privacy and three specific factors which were the informational need for privacy, the psychological need for privacy, and the physical need for privacy. Based on the bifactor-ESEM model, the measurement invariance of NFP-SC was demonstrated across gender groups. The general factor and specific factor of NFP-SC showed good reliability with high McDonald's coefficient omega. Convergent validity was tested by verifying the relationship between NFP-SC and four covariates.

Conclusions: Our study results showed that NFP-SC exhibited satisfactory psychometric properties in the Chinese context, meaning that it could be applied for future studies on investigating need for privacy in Chinese populations. Future research could build panel data by gathering data from different periods, and supplement the test-retest reliability of NFP-S to improve its application effect.