Lr. Tropp et al., Psychological acculturation: Development of a new measure for Puerto Ricans on the US mainland, EDUC PSYC M, 59(2), 1999, pp. 351-367
Most instruments designed to measure acculturation have relied on specific
cultural behaviors and preferences as primary indicators of acculturation.
In contrast, feelings of belonging and emotional attachment to cultural com
munities have not been widely used. The Psychological Acculturation Scale (
PAS) was developed to assess acculturation from a phenomenological perspect
ive, with items pertaining to the individual's sense of psychological attac
hment to and belonging within the Angle-American and Latino/Hispanic cultur
es. Responses from samples of bilingual individuals and Puerto Rican adoles
cents and adults are used to establish a high degree of measurement equival
ence across the Spanish and English versions of the scale along with high l
evels of internal consistency and construct validity. The usefulness of the
PAS and the importance of studying acculturation from a phenomenological p
erspective are discussed.