Gender differences in right wing extremism: Intergroup validity of a second-order construct

Gender differences are found in most studies on right-wing extremism, but e xplanations for this phenomenon are not clear A number of authors take gend er-specific differences in the expression of right-wing extremism as ground s for arguing that such orientations are not measured adequately among wome n. The result is a major problem in the interpretation of intergroup differ ences: Are such differences real, or are they caused by other influences or biases? From a methodological viewpoint, one could argue that this is a pr oblem of equivalence of meaning. Our data are taken front a study of youths conducted in West Germany in 1991. Integrating considerations of cross-cul tural research, we show that gender differences in right-wing extremism are found even after controlling for the influence of different modes of expre ssion (in statistical terms) of nonequivalent measurement instruments.