Development and Validation of Women’s Psychological Syndrome “Cinderella Complex Scale – Revised”

Abstract

The proposed scale is an attempt to understand the emotional needs of women in 21^st century. With the increasing number of issues related to women, research that explicitly focus on decoding their emotional needs are scarce. The researcher is trying to propose how these unmet emotional needs develops during the early childhood period and give rise to a serious psychological complex in women. Building on Colette Dowling theory the intention is to develop and validate a scale for measurement that best defines psychological issues women are facing these days. 500 respondents filled up the questionnaire developed by the author, out of which 330 responses were retained (of the women scoring high on the Cinderella complex). Using systematic and extensive scale development process the items were chosen and analysed through literature and detailed interview with practicing psychologists. The scale showed high validity and reliability index. Through EFA and CFA procedure the scale identified five factors. These, specifically highlighted the five specific emotional needs in women that give rise to a complex and can help us understand the issues related to women such as chosen submissiveness, self-doubt , poor self-esteem, poor self-confidence, constant approval seeking and attention seeking, continuing to subject themselves to abusive relationship, incapability of women to withdraw themselves and continue to stimulate themselves to conditions that are beyond their control, accepting and compromising because they have never been trained to be Independent. The study will help us understand why  women choose to behave the way they do and how despite enough opportunities they aren’t able to present themselves at par with men