The Ethnic Identity Scale: Affirmation, Really?

Objective: The Ethnic Identity Scale (EIS) was developed to distinguish between process and content components of ethnic-racial identity (ERI). However, the affirmation subscale is composed entirely of negatively worded items, measuring negative feelings about one's ethnic-racial group, rather than positive feelings as widely conceptualized. Addressing this gap, the present study examined the psychometric validity of a revised EIS with positively and negatively worded items to determine whether affirmation is best represented as a unidimensional construct, a bidimensional construct, or a combination of the two. Method: The sample consisted of 280 college students (75.5% female; Mage = 20.95 years; SD = 1.98 years). The largest ethnic-racial group consisted of Black or African Americans (68.2%), followed by Asian/Asian Americans (12.1%), Hispanic/Latinos (9.6%), and other ethnic-racial groups (10%). Results: Confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence for both unidimensionality and multidimensionality. Indeed, although positively worded and negatively worded items of "affirmation" loaded onto a general factor representing affirmation, there was still a significant amount of variance captured by the negative ERI affect specific factor, indicating the presence of multidimensionality. In addition, results indicated that negative ERI affect, over and above the general ERI affirmation factor, predicted psychosocial functioning. Conclusions: The present study expands our understanding of the multidimensionality of ERI, highlighting the need for examination of how we measure ERI affect at the very least, and possibly how we conceptualize it within the broader ERI literature. Public Significance Statement A substantial body of research has found important relationships between positive feelings about one's ethnic-racial group (e.g., racial pride, private regard, affirmation) and psychosocial and health outcomes for ethnic-racial minority youth. The present study sought to examine the functionality of a revised affirmation subscale of the Ethnic Identity Scale, a widely utilized measure of ethnic-racial identity, with both positively and negatively worded items. Results indicated negative ERI affect represents something distinct, yet related to ERI affirmation as whole, thereby highlighting the need for examination of how we measure ERI affect at the very least, and possibly how we conceptualize it within the broader ERI literature.