The African American Acculturation Scale II: Cross-Validation and Short Form

Abstract

A cross-validation study of the 74-item, African American Acculturation Scale (AAAS) was conducted with a new, independent sample of 1 75 African American adults, who differed significantly from the standardization sample in age and ethnicity of neighborhood of residence. Results revealed that the majority of the AAAS subscales and their Cronbach 's alphas were stable across the samples nonetheless. Data from the standardization and the cross-validation samples were therefore combined and factor analyzed to create a short version of the scale. Forty-one items were excluded in the factor analyses. The ensuing short form of the AAAS (AAAS-33) consists of33 items assessing I Ofactors (subscales) of African American culture. These subscales are similar to the original 8 theoretically based subscales. The correlation between scores on the shortform and the original versions of the scale was r = .94. Additional analyses revealed that the AAAS-33 has acceptable group differences and concurrent validity, as well as split-half reliability of r = .77 and internal consistency reliabilities of r = .81 to r = .88. Scores on the subscales and on the total AAAS-33 were not related to social class, education, or social class of origin. The AAAS-33 is presented as a short form of the scale for use in research where the long form may not be appropriate.