[Psychometric assessment of a brief Modern Racism Scale]

Rev Salud Publica (Bogota). 2016 Jun;18(3):437-446. doi: 10.15446/rsap.v18n3.41291.
[Article in Spanish]

Abstract

Objective To find the internal consistency of the Modern Racism Scale (MRS) among medical students in Bucaramanga, Colombia. Methods A total of 352 medical students, mean age=20.0 years (SD=1.9) reported their attitudes towards Afro-Colombians; 59.4 % were women. Students completed the 10-item version of MRS. Cronbach alpha and McDonald omega were calculated. Exploratory factor analyses were done to propose a brief version of the MRS. Results The 10-item version showed a Cronbach alpha of 0.48 and a McDonald omega of 0.15. The short version, the Brief Modern Racism Scale (BMRS) (items 1, 4, 5, 7 and 8) presented a Cronbach alpha of 0.64 and McDonald omega of 0.65. The BMRS showed one salient factor responsible of 41.6 % of the total variance. Conclusions A Spanish-language short version of the MRS shows better psychometric performance than the original version. Further study is needed to corroborate these findings or make adjustments for Colombian cultural regions.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Attitude*
  • Black People*
  • Colombia
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Language
  • Male
  • Psychometrics
  • Racism / psychology*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Surveys and Questionnaires*
  • Young Adult