How to identify a “love rat”: Development, validation, and invariance of the self-rating Zhanan evaluation scale

Zhanan—a term that refers to heterosexual males who cause mental or physical damage to their romantic partners, regardless of intention—is becoming a high-profile issue in terms of love and marriage. Therefore, assessing whether women’s partners are zhanan and preventing potential harm is important. The authors of the present study created the Self-rating Zhanan Evaluation Scale (SZES). Throughout the process of developing the scale, qualitative data were collected from eligible female subjects, and 27 items were retained via exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Then, in a sample (N = 419) of Chinese male participants, the SZES was shown to be well structured, with a four-factor model by both exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) validations. The structure was highly internally consistent and was stable over an 8-week period of retesting. The SZES is expected to help women identify inappropriate spouses and provide references for men to understand themselves better, as well as to help repair dysfunctional relationships.