Construction and Validation of the Measurement of Acculturation Strategies for People of African Descent (MASPAD).

This paper describes the development of the Measurement of Acculturation Strategies for People of African Descent (MASPAD), a bidimensional instrument designed to assess acculturation strategies (i.e., Traditionalist, Integrationist, Assimilationist, and Marginalist). Two studies were conducted to describe the development of the MASPAD and to assess its psychometric properties. Data were collected from 367 African American participants in Atlanta, GA; Columbus, OH; Los Angeles; and New York City, NY. The MASPAD consistently produced scores with adequate reliability and independent raters provided initial evidence for face and content validity. Pearson correlation coefficients supported the purported orthogonality of the MASPAD subscales. The MASPAD was found to be a significant predictor of cultural woridview and values. The bidimensional model of acculturation theorized to exist in the MASPAD was supported with a confirmatory factor analysis on data collected from 831 participants. Future directions for this body of research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]