Development and initial psychometric assessment of the race-related attitudes and multiculturalism scale in Australia

AIM: The present study aims to develop the Race-related Attitudes and Multiculturalism Scale (RRAMS), as well as to perform an initial psychometric assessment of this instrument in a national sample of Australian adults. METHODS: The sample comprised 2,714 Australian adults who took part in the 2013 National Dental Telephone Interview Survey (NDTIS), which includes a telephone-based interview and a follow-up postal questionnaire. We used Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to evaluate the RRAMS’ factorial structure (n = 271) and then proceeded with Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to confirm the proposed structure in an independent sample (n = 2,443). Measurement invariance was evaluated according to sex, age and educational attainment. Construct validity was assessed through known-groups comparisons. Internal consistency was assessed with McDonald’s Ω(H) and ordinal α. Multiple imputation by chained equations was adopted to handle missing data. RESULTS: EFA indicated that, after excluding 4 out of the 12 items, a two-factor structure provided a good fit to the data. This configural structure was then confirmed in an independent sample by means of CFA (χ(2)(19) = 341.070, p<0.001, CFI = 0.974, RMSEA = 0.083; 90% CI [0.076, 0.091]). Measurement invariance analyses suggested that the RRAMS items can be used to compare men/women, respondents with/without tertiary education and young/older participants. The “Anglo-centric/Assimilationist attitudes” (Ω(H) = 0.83, α(ORDINAL) = 0.85) and “Inclusive/Pluralistic attitudes” subscales (Ω(H) = 0.77, α(ORDINAL) = 0.79) showed adequate reliability. Men and participants with low education had higher Anglo-centric/assimilationist attitudes and lower inclusive/pluralistic attitudes, suggesting construct validity. CONCLUSIONS: The RRAMS appears to be a valid and reliable measure to evaluate multiculturalist attitudes in the Australian context. The instrument may be useful in the assessment and monitoring of interventions aiming to promote multiculturalist inclusive attitudes and to increase social cohesion in Australia.