MEASURING WHITE RACIAL IDENTITY - REPLY

This article argues that J. T. Behrens's (1997) analysis was appropria te and that the simple structure conclusion concerning the White Racia l Identity Attitude Scale (WRIAS) holds. First, the ''possible failure s'' of the analyses were explicitly addressed in Behrens's article and were not problematic. Second, the complex patterns expected from the WRIAS in light of the complex theory from which it was developed simpl y do not exist in the data. Furthermore, converging results from the u se of classical measurement and latent trait analysis counter argument s concerning the weakness of the traditional approach. Third, the dism issal of the results as irrelevant to convergent and discriminant vali dity is rejected because the test consists of 5 scales whose interrela tions are of primary interest. Implications for counseling research an d practice are discussed.