Multi-Group Differential Functioning of Items and Tests with Cultural Orientation Scale

The Cultural Orientation Scale (COS; Triandis & Gelfland, 1998) is a 16-item instrument that purportedly measures four dimensions of collectivism and individualism: Vertical Collectivism (4 items), Horizontal Collectivism (4 items), Vertical Individualism (4 items), and Horizontal Individualism (4 items). The COS has been widely used in social and personality psychology to understand the role of cultural orientation on behavior and mental health. However, surprisingly few studies have examined the factor structure of the COS and its item level qualities. In those studies, item level qualities compared two groups at a time and examined differential item functioning (DIF). However, it is advantageous to compare all groups simultaneously. Thus, we conducted Multi-Group Differential Functioning of Items and Tests (MG-DFIT) in Item Response Theory (IRT) to derive a more comprehensive psychometric evaluation of the COS, with particular focus on differences in item functioning between different racial/ethnic groups. The participants were diverse undergraduate students (N= 1,085; 630 women, 455 men; Mean age = 23.45 [SD= 5.35]) including 523 Black/African Americans, 315 White/European Americans, and 247 Asian/Asian Americans. In the final paper, after the dimensionality was evaluated, items functioning differently will be identified for multiple ethnic groups simultaneously