ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychopathology
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Measurement Validity in Clinical and Dynamic PsychologyView all 9 articles
Call of the Void Scale: Scale Development, Validation and Psychometric Properties
Provisionally accepted
- 1Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
- 2Bergische Universitat Wuppertal School of Education, Wuppertal, Germany
- 3Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, Bochum, Germany
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Abstract Background: The inexplicable thought of jumping from a bridge, driving into oncoming traffic or walking in front of an oncoming train is known as the Call of the Void (COV) phenomenon. Previous studies have only focused on one COV aspect: the high place phenomenon (HPP), that is a sudden urge to jump when in a high place. In this study, we aimed to develop and validate the Call of the Void Scale (COVS) to measure the prevalence of a variety of these thoughts, their ego-dystonic character and associated safety behaviors. Methods: The study sample comprised N = 476 participants (71% female, mean age = 30.85 years, standard deviation = 11.5; age range: 18–67 years). Individuals completed the COVS between August 2023 and February 2024 in an anonymous online survey. We analyzed the scale´s factor structure, reliability, and validity through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Bivariate correlations with existing measures of depression, stress, anxiety and suicidal ideation and behavior were calculated to assess convergent validity. Results: Using exploratory factor analysis on half of the sample (n1=238), we derived a five-factor structure, which was interpreted as representing the frequency of COV in different situ-ations ("frequency HPP", "frequency car", "frequency train"), the ego-dystonic character of the thoughts ("ego-dystonia"), and behavior to suppress or manage the thoughts ("safety behavior"). Confirmatory factor analysis on the other half of the sample (n2=238) showed a good fit for the five-factor solution. The subscales frequency HPP, frequency car, frequency train and safety behavior were positively correlated with depression, stress, anxiety and suicidal ideation and behavior. The ego-dystonia subscale was only correlated with the safety behavior subscale. Conclusion: The COVS seems to be a valid tool for the assessment of the Call of the Void phenomenon, measuring the prevalence of these thoughts, their ego-dystonic character and associated safety behaviors. The limitations of this study and implications for future research are discussed.
Keywords: Call of the Void, High place phenomenon, scale development, factor analysis, intrusion
Received: 14 Aug 2025; Accepted: 07 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wiesmann, Melzer and Teismann. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lara Wiesmann, lara.wiesmann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
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