Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II: A Revision of the Original ARSMA Scale

TLDR

The study revised the ARSMA to create a multidimensional instrument measuring independent Mexican and Anglo cultural orientations. The revised ARSMA‑JJ includes two subscales—Anglo Orientation and Mexican Orientation—derived from the original items. The ARSMA‑JJ shows strong reliability (α ≈ .86–.88), a high correlation (r = .89) with the original scale, and robust construct validity across 379 participants, enabling identification of integrated, separated, assimilated, and marginalized acculturation profiles.

Abstract

The Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans (ARSMA) was revised for the purpose of developing an instrument that assessed acculturation processes through an orthogonal, multidimensional approach by measuring cultural orientation toward the Mexican culture and the Anglo culture independently. Two subscales, Anglo Orientation Subcale (AOS) and Mexican Orientation Subscale (MOS), were developed from items from the original ARSMA scale. The two cultural orientation subscales were found to have good internal reliabilities (Cronbach's Alpha = .86 and .88 for the AOS and the MOS, respectively. The revised scale (ARSMA-JJ) yielded a high Pearson correlation coefficient (r = .89) with the original scale. Strong construct validity of ARSMA -II was demonstrated using a sample of 379 individuals representing generations I to 5. ARSMA-II is multifactorial and capable of generating multidimensional acculturative types, for example, integrated, separated, assimilated and marginalized.