Chinese versions of the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire: psychometric properties, measurement invariance across gender and cultures

Associations between unmet interpersonal needs and different aspects of suicide have been observed in both Western and non‐Western cultures using the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ). However, measurement invariance is a prerequisite for comparing differences between culturally different groups, and to date, no studies have examined measurement invariance of INQ across cultures. This study aimed to (a) validate Chinese versions of the INQ, (b) assess measurement invariance across gender for the Chinese INQ, (c) assess measurement invariance across Australian and Chinese cultures for the INQ, and (d) comprehensively assess the association of interpersonal needs with suicide ideation. A sample of 469 Australian undergraduates and a sample of 854 Chinese undergraduates were used in this study. For testing measurement invariance across gender, the sample of Chinese undergraduates was split by gender into the Chinese male and Chinese female samples. Five versions of INQ (10‐, 12‐, 15‐, 18‐ and 25‐item) were tested. The 10‐ and 15‐item Chinese INQ demonstrated adequate psychometric properties through various analyses (i.e., reliability, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling) and also demonstrated measurement invariance across gender via multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. The 10‐item INQ demonstrated measurement invariance across Australian and Chinese cultures. Of the two interpersonal factors, only perceived burdensomeness was significantly associated with suicide ideation. Multigroup structural equation modeling demonstrated that perceived burdensomeness may be a greater risk factor of suicide among Australian undergraduates than among Chinese undergraduates. Practical and theoretical contributions of this study are discussed.