This study empirically investigated the effects of negatively worded items on the factor structure and internal reliability of psychological scales and assessments. Negatively worded items typically cluster separately from positively worded items on the scale due to their directionality rather than their content or meaning. Five scales commonly used in psychology, comprising both negatively and positively worded items, were administered: Helping Attitude, Life Orientation, ENRICH Marital Satisfaction, Self-Esteem, and State Self-Esteem. Five samples (588, 436, 355, 480, and 418) from a medium-sized public university in the UAE participated in the study. The statistical analysis employed exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with principal axis factoring (PAF) as an extraction method, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and internal reliability analysis. The results indicated that the Helping Attitude scale has two factors: the first had an eigenvalue of 6.51 and explained 32.57% of the total variance, representing the positively worded items, while the second factor had an eigenvalue of 2.18 and explained more than 14% of the total variance, comprising the negatively worded items. The results also demonstrated that the reliability of the entire scale was affected by the inclusion of negatively worded items. The study concluded that negatively worded items are problematic, adversely impact the psychological scales' factor structure, and decrease internal reliability. These findings have significant implications for the quality and validity of assessments in psychology. Researchers and practitioners are strongly advised against including negative items when developing or using scales. Several alternative procedures are available and have been discussed.

Prof. Hamzeh Dodeen is a UAEU scholar specializing in psychometrics, research methods, and educational assessment, with extensive publications on test strategies, statistics anxiety, and emotional intelligence.