Competing interpretations of the structure of the White Racial Identit
y Attitude Scale (WRIAS; J. E. Helms & R. T. Carter, 1990) were assess
ed in 2 investigations. First, a meta-analysis of scale intercorrelati
ons and internal reliability estimates indicated that, after correctio
n for measurement error, intercorrelations between some scales were eq
ual to unity, suggesting that the structure of the WRIAS is less compl
ex than the theory of White racial identity it is assumed to measure.
Second, confirmatory factor analysis of 2 data sets likewise revealed
that scale structures found in the data are more parsimonious than tho
se suggested by theory. Although it remains unclear which construct or
constructs are actually measured by the instrument, interpretations o
f the WRIAS as composed of 5 meaningful dimensions are unsupported.