The Health Regulatory Focus Scale (HRFS) is a short scale whichmeasures an individual’s
prevention and promotion focus in a health-specific context. The main objective of this
study was to examine the psychometric properties of the newly translated German
version of the HRFS. Reliability and item characteristics were found to be satisfactory.
Validity of both subscales toward other psychological constructs including behavioral
approach and avoidance, core self-evaluations, optimism, pessimism, neuroticism, as
well as severalmeasures of physical andmental health was shown. In addition, invariance
of the measure across age and gender groups was shown. Exploratory as well as
confirmatory factor analyses clearly indicated a two-factorial structure with a moderate
correlation between the two latent constructs. Differences in health promotion and
prevention focus between socio-demographic groups are discussed. The HRFS is
found to be a valid and reliable instrument for the assessment of regulatory focus in
health-related environments
