REFERENCE GROUP IDENTITY DEPENDENCE SCALE - A MEASURE OF MALE IDENTITY

The purpose of this study was to develop a measure of male identity ba sed on Wade's (1998) theory of male reference group identity dependenc e. The construct was operationalized in the form of a self-report inst rument the Reference Group Identity Dependence Scale (RGIDS), that ass esses feelings of psychological relatedness to other males. A total of 344 undergraduate males from a large state university completed the R GIDS. Construct validity was evaluated by relating the RGIDS to measur es of ego identity, gender role conflict, social anxiety, self-esteem, and anxiety and depression symptomatology. Results of the factor anal ysis indicated that a four-factor structure corresponded to three hypo thesized levels of the construct The four subscales of the RGIDS demon strated sound internal consistency, and correlations found between the RGIDS and the other measures in the study indicated preliminary suppo rt for validity of the construct. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for the theory and future research on men and masculin ity.