Evaluating the Invariance of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure Across Foreign-Born, Second-Generation and Later-Generation College Students in the United States

Objectives: Past research has established that the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) exhibits measurement invariance across diverse ethnic groups. However, relatively little research has evaluated whether this measure is invariant across generational status. Thus, the present study evaluates...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology 2016-07, Vol.22 (3), p.460-465
Main Authors: Yap, Stevie C. Y., Donnellan, M. Brent, Schwartz, Seth J., Zamboanga, Byron L., Kim, Su Yeong, Huynh, Que-Lam, Vazsonyi, Alexander T., Cano, Miguel Ángel, Hurley, Eric A., Whitbourne, Susan Krauss, Castillo, Linda G., Donovan, Roxanne A., Blozis, Shelly A., Brown, Elissa J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
College Students
Emigrants and Immigrants - psychology
Ethnic Groups - psychology
Ethnic Identity
Family Characteristics - ethnology
Female
Generational Differences
Group Identity
Human
Humans
Male
Measurement
Measurement Invariance
Psychometrics - statistics & numerical data
Social Identification
Students - psychology
United States - ethnology
Young Adult
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Summary:Objectives: Past research has established that the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) exhibits measurement invariance across diverse ethnic groups. However, relatively little research has evaluated whether this measure is invariant across generational status. Thus, the present study evaluates the invariance of the MEIM across foreign-born, second-generation, and later-generation respondents. Method: A large, ethnically diverse sample of college students completed the MEIM as part of an online survey (N = 9,107; 72.8% women; mean age = 20.31 years; SD = 3.38). Results: There is evidence of configural and metric invariance, but there is little evidence of scalar invariance across generational status groups. Conclusions: This study suggests that the MEIM has an equivalent factor structure across generation groups, indicating it is appropriate to compare the magnitude of associations between the MEIM and other variables across foreign-born, second-generation, and later-generation individuals. However, the lack of scalar invariance suggests that mean-level differences across generational status should be interpreted with caution.
ISSN:1099-9809
1939-0106
DOI:10.1037/cdp0000068