Validation of the English Social Attunement Questionnaire: Associations with Substance Use, Impulsivity, and Sensation Seeking across the Lifespan

INTRODUCTION: Our social environment strongly influences behaviors like substance use and sensation seeking. While most research focuses on group pressure and conformity, the role of social attunement - the tendency to align with one's social environment for social reward without explicit pressure - has been largely overlooked. METHODS: This study evaluated the English version of the Social Attunement Questionnaire (SAQ) and examined its links to age, alcohol and cannabis use, impulsivity, and sensation seeking (N = 447; 54.5% female). RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable to good fit of the originally proposed two factor structure, with the one factor solution showing a substantially worse fit. Internal consistency was good across the full scale (α = 0.82) and acceptable for the Cognition subscale (α = 0.75) and the Behavior subscale (α = 0.78). The SAQ also showed similar scale and subscale scores and measurement invariance across sex. Higher social attunement was observed in younger individuals. SAQ scores - particularly the behavior subscale - were positively associated with alcohol and cannabis use and with impulsivity. Age moderated these associations: among younger individuals, higher social attunement was linked to greater alcohol use and sensation seeking, while these associations reversed with age. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that social attunement may act as both a risk and protective factor for risk-taking behaviors, depending on developmental stage. The English SAQ demonstrated solid psychometric properties across its two subscales - Cognition and Behavior - while also proving suitable for use as a single composite scale, supporting its flexibility as a reliable measure of social attunement.