Co-published in Journal of Applied School Psychology, Vol. 22, No. 2, 2006, pp. 13-33; and in Multicultural Issues in School Psychology, pp. 13-33. Copyright 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. Written by John Hitchcock and colleagues of ICF Caliber, this article describes a mixed-method (i.e., quantitative and qualitative) approach for developing a psychological measure that accounts for cultural factors. Despite ongoing calls for developing cultural competency among mental health practitioners, few assessment instruments consider cultural variation in psychological constructs.
To meet the challenge of developing measures for minority and international students, it is necessary to account for the influence culture may have on the latent constructs that form a given instrument. What complicates matters further is that individual factors (e.g., gender) within a culture necessitate additional refinement of factor structures on which such instruments are based. The current work endeavors to address these concerns by demonstrating a mixed-methods approach utilized to assess construct validation within a specific culture, and in turn develop culturally-specific instruments. Article copies are available from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1.800.HAWORTH.