Psychometric Evaluation of the Bidimensional Acculturation Scale With a Sample of Latinx Sexual Minority Men

Abstract

The Bidimensional Acculturation Scale (BAS) is one of the most widely used acculturation scales in public health research, assessing two cultural dimensions of acculturation–Hispanic (e.g., how often participants read, speak, and think in Spanish) and non-Hispanic domains (e.g., how often participants read, speak, and think in English). The BAS has been shown to have acceptable reliability, but the factor structure of the BAS remains untested since its development in 1996 with a primarily Spanish-speaking sample (74%). Furthermore, the BAS has not been examined with a sample of Latinx sexual minorities, for whom the acculturation process may differ based on their sexual orientation. The current study examined the psychometric properties of the BAS with a sample of 357 Latinx sexual minority men (LSMM) recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk, the majority of whom identified as cisgender gay and bisexual men. Our findings confirmed that the factor structure of the BAS and the internal consistency of each factor were high. Regarding validity, the non-Hispanic domain was positively correlated with increased generational status and English language proficiency. Additionally, the non-Hispanic domain significantly predicted lower scores of lifetime experiences of intersectional forms of discrimination and the Hispanic domain significantly predicted higher scores of lifetime experiences of intersectional forms of discrimination. These findings further support the psychometric properties of the BAS with robust validity in a sample of LSMM.