Comfort with Acculturation Status among Students from South Texas

Abstract

A 28-item acculturation rating scale for Mexican Americans was introduced, which was designed not only to measure the extent to which subjects vary in Mexican versusAnglo orientation, but also the extent to which they are comfortable with their cultural identity. The scale was adninistered to 844 subjects, comprising three different student populations in extreme south Texas. The scale demonstrated high internal consistency, and its validity was corroborated by commonly used criteria. The items in the scale clustered around five factors. Factor subscale scores computed for each subject related in meaningful ways with established validity criteria. Factor subscale scores were used to measure comfort with the subject's ethnic identity. The measures of comfort with ethnic identity related meaningfully with validity criteria. The measures of comfort with ethnic identity may prove useful in identifying individuals under pressure from acculturation stress.