Assessing Cross-Cultural Item Bias in Questionnaires: Acculturation and the Measurement of Social Support and Family Cohesion for Adolescents

A method is presented for evaluating the presence and size of cross-cultural item biases. The examined items concern parental support and family cohesion in a Likert-type questionnaire for adolescents in The Netherlands. Each evaluated item has two versions, a collectivist and an individualistic one...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cross-cultural psychology 2001-07, Vol.32 (4), p.381-396
Main Authors: van Hemert, Dianne A., Baerveldt, Chris, Vermande, Marjolijn
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acculturation
Adolescents
Bias
Collectivism
Cross cultural studies
Cultural bias
Cultural Differences
Diversity (Student)
Families & family life
Family cohesion
Family Structure
Foreign Countries
High School Students
Individualism
Netherlands
Parent Child Relationship
Parental support
Questionnaires
Secondary Education
Teenagers
Test Bias
Urban Schools
Young people
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Summary:A method is presented for evaluating the presence and size of cross-cultural item biases. The examined items concern parental support and family cohesion in a Likert-type questionnaire for adolescents in The Netherlands. Each evaluated item has two versions, a collectivist and an individualistic one, that measure the same theoretical construct. The standardized difference between the score means of the item versions, called the Δe score, gives an indication of the cultural bias of the item. As expected, most items were found to yield a higher Δe when respondents scored low on an individualistic scale for acculturation or originated from countries that are (more) collectivist. This procedure is recommended for use in testing items in pilot studies.
ISSN:0022-0221
1552-5422
DOI:10.1177/0022022101032004001