Purpose: The aims of the study were to evaluate the orthogonality of acculturation for Latinos.
Design: Regression analyses were used to examine acculturation in two Latino samples (N = 77; N = 40). In a third study (N = 673), confirmatory factor analyses compared unidimensional and bidimensional models.
Method: Acculturation was assessed with the ARSMA-II (Studies 1 and 2), and language proficiency items from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (Study 3).
Results: In Studies 1 and 2, the bidimensional model accounted for slightly more variance (R (2)Study 1 = .11; R (2)Study 2 = .21) than the unidimensional model (R (2)Study 1 = .10; R (2)Study 2 = .19). In Study 3, the bidimensional model evidenced better fit (Akaike information criterion = 167.36) than the unidimensional model (Akaike information criterion = 1204.92).
Discussion: Acculturation is multidimensional.
Implications: Care providers should examine acculturation as a bidimensional construct.