The Validation of the North American Indigenous College Students Inventory (NAICSI)

Abstract

The North American Indigenous College Students Inventory (NAICSI) was designed to measure cultural integrity (preservation of cultural tradition and cultural identity) through six support factors (family, tribe, peers, staff, faculty, and institution) and the effects of these support factors on cultural reciprocity, cultural resiliency, GPA, and persistence for Native American college students through the lens of transculturation. Transculturation is a socialization process that assesses how Native American college students maintain their cultural integrity through different dimensions of support. Statistical analyses revealed the NAICSI yielded high levels of internal consistency, content validity, and construct validity. Additionally, the confirmatory factor analyses supported the hypothesized factor structure. The NAICSI was validated on 1,066 Native American college students from 75 institutions and representing more than 200 tribes. The NAICSI could be used as a valid metric for evaluating on-campus support factors for Native American college students.