The Activism and Radicalism Intention Scales (ARIS) as a Measure of Political Mobilization: Verification of Factor Structure and Invariance across Gender in a Sample of Polish Academic Youth

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to fill the gap related to the lack of Polish-language scales for measuring political mobilization. Therefore, we developed the Polish version of the Activism-Radicalism Intention Scales (ARIS) and assessed its psychometric properties in a sample of academic youth. In an online survey, 767 students completed ARIS and other questionnaires assessing related constructs. Using the confirmatory factor analysis, we investigated the bi-factorial structure that should best fit the theoretical concept underlying the ARIS. In this way, we extended the original factor analysis conducted by the scale’s authors, which was based on exploratory analytic methods. Furthermore, we verified the reliability, dimensionality, and multi-group measurement invariance across gender and construct validity. The results confirmed that the scale has a bi-factorial structure. The reliability of the ARIS is high, and scale is characterized by partial strict invariance across gender and satisfactory construct validity. In conclusion, we positively assessed the utility of the Polish version of the ARIS. Therefore, the scale can be successfully used in research on Polish society, the aim of which is to monitor the level of the political participation of Poles and to identify individuals and groups that are politically uninvolved or prone to radicalization.