Bicultural Identity in Childhood

Preliminary Validation of the Bicultural Identity Integration Scale for Children (BIIS-C)

Trifiletti, Elena
Shamloo, Soraya E.
Ferrari, Laura
Dusi, Paola
Huynh, Que-Lam
Rosnati, Rosa
Benet-Martínez, Veronica

Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona
Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
Department of Psychology, California State University
Department of Political and Social Sciences, ICREA & Pompeu Fabra University

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Elena Trifiletti played lead role in formal analysis, supervision and visualization, and equal role in conceptualization, data curation, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, writing of original draft, and writing of review and editing. Soraya E. Shamloo played lead role in investigation, and equal role in conceptualization, data curation, methodology, project administration, resources, supervision, visualization, writing of original draft, and writing of review and editing. Laura Ferrari played equal role in writing of original draft and writing of review and editing. Paola Dusi played equal role in conceptualization and writing of review and editing. Que-Lam Huynh played equal role in writing of original draft and writing of review and editing. Rosa Rosnati played equal role in writing of original draft and writing of review and editing. Veronica Benet-Martínez played equal role in writing of original draft and writing of review and editing.

Elena Trifiletti, Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Via S. Francesco, 22, 37129 Verona VR, Italy [email protected]

Received August 6, 2020

revised August 18, 2021

Accepted September 3, 2021

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 28(1):p 72-79, January 2022. | DOI: 10.1037/cdp0000504

Objective: In the present study, we adapted and validated the Bicultural Identity Integration Scale for Children (BIIS-C). Method: 259 bicultural children (119 males, 140 females; M_age = 11.07, SD = 1.24) were provided with a questionnaire. Based on adult versions of the scale, we tested the factorial structure of a set of 11 nonreversed items tapping into harmony (vs. conflict; six items) and blendedness (vs. compartmentalization; five items) dimensions. Results: A two-factor model was compared with a one-factor model. In line with research on adults, results showed that the two-factor model (with nine items) fitted the data better than the one-factor model. The two dimensions yielded reliable scores and were correlated in the expected direction with personality variables, acculturation attitudes, and perceived discrimination. Conclusions: The BIIS-C provides valid and reliable scores for research on biculturalism in childhood.