Psychometric Evaluation of Scales of Orientation to Social Dominance and Authoritarianism in Children

Authors

  • Débora Imhoff Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
  • Silvina Brussino Universidad Nacional de Córdoba

Abstract

Social domination orientation (SDO) and authoritarianism (RWA) are very relevant variables inside Political Psychology field. The acquisition of these orientations occurs during childhood within political socialization process. Yet, the exploration of these aspects with children has received less attention than its study with adults. Thereby, no psychometric study with children has been carried out in Latin America in order to determine structure validity, reliability and convergent validity of these scales. Therefore, the present study aimed to analyze two scales that allow the operationalization of those constructs with the objective of determine their psychometric properties. An instrumental empirical study with a non-random accidental sample of 292 9-11 years old children from Cordoba, Argentina, was carried out. Results show the adequate psychometric properties of the scales considered. This way, SDO scale showed a bidimensional structure with 10 items, with adequate levels of reliability for children (α = ,60 and α = ,61). On the other hand, RWA scale also demonstrated a two-dimension structure with adequate levels of reliability (α = ,69 and α = ,62), and 11 items. Theoretical and operational implications are discussed considering convergent analysis of the two scales.

Keywords:

psychometric study, social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism

Author Biography

Débora Imhoff, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba

Contacto: D. Imhoff. Enfermera Gordillo esquina Enrique Barros. Correo electrónico: dimhoff@psyche.unc.edu.ar