A PSYCHOMETRIC INVESTIGATION OF THE BLACK RACIAL IDENTITY ATTITUDE SCALE FORM-B

This study involved an examination of the psychometric properties of t he Black Racial Identity Attitude Scale-Form B through item, subscale, and factor analyses. Factor analytic support was found for the Preenc ounter, Immersion-Emersion, and Internalization subscales. No support was found for an Encounter subscale. However, the factor analysis acco unted for a small amount of variance, which, coupled with a finding of marginal internal consistencies, suggests little common variance amon g the items for the RIAS. Version A and Version B scoring showed littl e correspondence for some subscales, suggesting the earlier and later scoring versions cannot be considered interchangeable. The Preencounte r and Internalization subscales showed highly skewed distributions for a number of items and for subscale scores. The implications of these results for previous and future research using the scale are discussed . (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.