Cherishing: Developing a measurement for objects of cherishing

Despite the widespread use of the term 'cherishing' in the psycho-social literature, very little is known about different aspects of cherishing, and the way it operates in people's lives. Using data collected from Indian sample, this paper develops a measurement of objects of cherishing in order to shed light on the constituents of this wider construct. We conducted seven studies with participants belonging to multiple Indian ethnicities to develop and validate an instrument for objects of cherishing. We define cherishing as a behavioral manifestation characterized by a strong sense of protectiveness, care, and emotional attachment towards a target which we call the objects of cherishing. Our findings reveal that these objects are strongly affiliated with secure attachment. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis shows that the objects of cherishing instrument has a robust four factor structure which is invariant across the sample, gender and broad ethnic groups included in the study. The present study also reveals concurrent and predictive validity as well as test-retest reliability of the objects of cherishing measurement tool based on a series of studies. Exploration based on this tool provides insights into psycho-social functioning and well-being of people.
Author(s): Pratishtha Bhattacharyya [sup.1] , Rabindra Kumar Pradhan [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.463040.5, Xavier School of Human Resource Management, Xavier Institute of Management University, , Bhubaneswar, India (2) grid.429017.9, 0000 [...]