Toward the Development of a Multidimensional Scale of Latino Threat

• In Event: Threat

Abstract

Measurement is the foundation of good social science research. Without valid and reliable measures of theoretical constructs, the empirical status of theories explaining system behavior rests on a very weak foundation. Existing research testing the minority threat perspective, specifically, has yet to establish the hypothesized factor structure of minority threat as a higher order construct. In other words, we still know relatively little about whether economic, political, and criminal threat are interrelated and caused by the same underlying construct. Thus, the focus of the present study is to develop the first multidimensional scale of minority threat—specifically, Latino threat. Confirmatory factor analysis will be used to test the factor structure of the new measure. Implications for minority threat research and theory will be discussed.

Author

• Arynn Infante, Arizona State University