Development and Validation of the Bicultural Youth Acculturation Questionnaire

Abstract

Objectives: Acculturation is a multidimensional process involving changes in behaviour and beliefs. Questionnaires developed to measure acculturation are typically designed for specific ethnic populations and adult experiences. This study developed a questionnaire that measures acculturation among ethnically diverse populations of youth that can be included as a module in population surveys.

Methods: Questionnaires measuring acculturation in youth were identified in the literature. The importance of items from the existing questionnaires was determined using a Delphi process and this informed the development of our questionnaire. The questionnaire was then pilot tested using a sample of 248 Canadians aged 18-25 via an online system. Participants identified as East and South East Asian (27.8%), South Asian (17.7%) and Black (13.7%). The majority were 1st (33.5%) or 2nd generation immigrants (52.0%). After redundant items were eliminated, exploratory factor analysis grouped items into domains, and, for each domain, internal consistency, and convergent validity with immigrant generation then age at immigration estimated. A subset of participants re-completed the questionnaire for reliability estimation.

Results: The literature review yielded 117 articles that used 13 questionnaires with a total of 440 questions. The Delphi process reduced these to 32 questions. Pilot testing occurred in 248 Canadians aged 18-25. Following item reduction, 16 questions in three domains remained: dominant culture, heritage language, and heritage culture. All had good internal consistency (Cronbach's alphas > .75). The mean dominant domain score increased with immigrant generation (1st generation: 3.69 (95% CI: 3.49-3.89), 2nd: 4.13 (4.00-4.26), 3rd: 4.40 (4.19-4.61)), and mean heritage language score was higher among those who immigrated after age 12 than before (p = .0001), indicative of convergent validity.

Conclusions: This Bicultural Youth Acculturation Questionnaire has demonstrated validity. It can be incorporated into population health surveys to elucidate the impact of acculturation on health outcomes among bicultural youth.

Fig 1. Flowchart for literature review.

^a These studies used a combination of measures to assess a proxy of acculturation, such as language of survey administration, or some combination of ethnicity, language and/or nativity. ^b These studies were excluded based on methodological grounds. They were either qualitative, mixed-methods, interview administered questionnaires or commentaries in journals. ^c These studies were unrelated to the current study. These included validating a questionnaire in a new population or did not investigate acculturation

Fig 2. Flowchart for selecting items for inclusion in the questionnaire.

^a These questions were identical between questionnaires, i.e. “How well do you speak English”. ^b Theses questions were unidimensional, i.e. “Do you prefer to speak English or Spanish”. ^c These questions asked about items that would be beyond the scope of youth aged 10–16, such as “I communicate with my spouse in English”. ^d These questions were duplicative, such as “I speak English 1) at home, 2) at work, 3) with my mother, 4) with my father” etc.

Fig 3. Bland-Altman Plot of differences between baseline and follow up over the mean response value for each domain.