VALIDATION OF AN ACCULTURATION MEASURE FOR HISPANIC ADOLESCENTS

Based on the continuing growth and youthfulness of the Hispanic popula tion in the United States, valid cultural measures are needed for Hisp anic adolescents. Hispanics living in this country experience accultur ation or cultural change during their exposure to American culture. A matched sample oi 994 Hispanic students and their parents completed ac culturation measures. Scores on a 10-item acculturation scale complete d by the adolescents' parents correlated significantly .49 with a sing le-item rating, a measure of acculturation by adolescents. This findin g supports construct validity for a measure of language use as an inde x of linguistic acculturation for Hispanic adolescents.