Differential item functioning of the Acculturation, Habits, and Interests Multicultural Scale for Adolescents (AHIMSA) by race/ethnicity.

Background: Acculturation is a complex multidimensional construct that plays in important role in various outcomes across many domains (e.g., psychological, behavioral, social, and developmental). While there are many acculturation measures for specific racial/ethnic groups, few multigroup measures exists. Even fewer have been psychometrically evaluated for differential item functioning (DIF; e.g., measurement invariance). This is a critical step in determining whether item properties are equivalent across groups and thus, whether scores obtained from different groups are in fact comparable. Methods: The Acculturation, Habits, and Interests, Multicultural Scale for Adolescents (AHIMSA) was completed by first and second generation participants identifying as White, Hispanic, or Asian ( Results: Analyses revealed racial/ethnic DIF was present for two items on the Separation scale based on McFadden's pseudo R Conclusions: Psychometric properties were generally equivalent across the three racial/ethnic groups for each of the subscales evaluated. This indicates that scores obtained from each subscale could be compared across racial/ethnic groups. By establishing cross-group usability of the scale, racial/ethnic differences in acculturation orientation can be examined, and, more importantly, used in the context of research on related mental, physical, and behavioral health outcomes.