American and Puerto Rican Cultural Involvement Scales (APRCIS)

Abstract

The American and Puerto Rican Cultural Involvement Scales (APRCIS), developed by Cortes, Rogler, and Malgady in 1994, is a psychometric instrument designed to assess the degree of cultural involvement among individuals who identify with both Anglo-American and Puerto Rican culture. This scale is fundamental for studies focusing on acculturation and bicultural identity, particularly within mainland Puerto Rican communities in the United States.

The APRCIS is composed of 18 items distributed across two independent subscales: one measuring involvement in Anglo-American culture (Items 1–9) and the other measuring involvement in Puerto Rican culture (Items 10–18). It quantifies involvement across several key domains, including language use, values, ethnic pride, and child-rearing practices, utilizing a 4-point Likert scale format.

Keywords

Acculturation, Biculturality, Puerto Rican culture, Cultural Involvement, Ethnic Pride, Values, Psychometrics, Cultural Identity, Cortes Rogler Malgady Scale.

Authors

Cortes, D. E., Rogler, L. H., and Malgady, R. G.

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the APRCIS is to provide a reliable and valid measure of cultural orientation and biculturalism among individuals navigating the intersection of American and Puerto Rican cultural norms. It is often employed in psychological and sociological research to understand how varying degrees of cultural involvement influence mental health outcomes, family dynamics, and social adjustment within immigrant or ethnic minority populations.

Specifically, the scale enables researchers to quantify the extent to which participants adhere to or participate in practices associated with each culture independently. This allows for the identification of specific acculturation styles, such as integration (biculturalism), assimilation, separation, or marginalization, offering valuable insights into cross-cultural adaptation.

Construct

The APRCIS measures the construct of Cultural Involvement, conceptualized as a multidimensional aspect of the broader process of acculturation. It is designed around the premise that cultural identity is not monolithic but rather composed of various measurable behavioral and attitudinal components, supporting a model of orthogonal biculturality.

The scale operationalizes this construct across five specific domains: Language Use, Values, Ethnic Pride, Food Preferences, and Child-Rearing Practices. By assessing these distinct areas, the APRCIS provides a nuanced profile of an individual’s engagement with both the Anglo-American and Puerto Rican cultural spheres.

Validity

While specific statistical validity coefficients (e.g., convergent, discriminant) are not detailed in the source content, the scale exhibits strong face validity, as the items directly address observable cultural practices and attitudes pertinent to the target populations (e.g., celebrating holidays, food preference, language comfort). The scale’s extensive use in subsequent academic literature (as suggested by the references) implies established construct validity, particularly for measuring bicultural identity among mainland Puerto Rican populations.

Further validation studies, such as those modifying or applying the scale to different ethnic groups (e.g., Mezzich et al., 2009), reinforce its utility as a measure of cultural identity, suggesting that the underlying structure effectively captures distinct cultural orientations central to biculturalism research.

Reliability

The reliability of the APRCIS was assessed using the internal consistency method, specifically Cronbach’s alpha. The results indicate acceptable levels of internal consistency for both subscales, demonstrating that the items within each cultural dimension measure their respective constructs coherently.

The reliability coefficient for the American Culture subscale was reported as .78, while the coefficient for the Puerto Rican Culture subscale was .73. These values are generally considered adequate for research purposes within social sciences and psychometrics, providing confidence in the scale’s ability to reliably differentiate between the two cultural involvement dimensions.

Factor Analysis

The APRCIS is structurally designed to be two-dimensional, reflecting the orthogonal nature of biculturalism where involvement in one culture does not necessarily preclude involvement in the other. The scale is partitioned into two primary factors or subscales based on content: the Anglo-American Culture scale (Items 1–9) and the Puerto Rican Culture scale (Items 10–18).

This clear division of items based on cultural focus confirms the hypothesized two-factor model, allowing researchers to obtain separate scores for American and Puerto Rican cultural involvement. The factors encompass broad domains including language use, values, ethnic pride, and specific cultural behaviors such as food preferences and child-rearing practices.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report inventory; Psychometric cultural involvement scale.

Format: 18 items utilizing a 4-point Likert scale.

Language Available: English (Implied by item presentation; often administered in Spanish or bilingual format in practice).

Population Group: Individuals of Puerto Rican descent.

Age Group: Adolescents and Adults (Implied by inclusion of child-rearing and complex value questions).

Population Details: Primarily used with mainland Puerto Rican populations residing in the United States, focusing on cultural adaptation and identity.

Test Methodology: Responses are gathered using a 4-point scale where 1 indicates Not at all and 4 indicates Very much. Scores are summed within the Anglo-American subscale and the Puerto Rican subscale to yield two distinct cultural involvement scores.

Keywords

Cultural Identity, Acculturation Scale, Mainland Puerto Ricans, Ethnic Minorities, Cross-Cultural Psychology, Cultural adaptation.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A

Correspondence Address: N/A

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The APRCIS was developed in 1994 by Cortes, Rogler, and Malgady. Information regarding the scale’s development and use can be found in academic literature, including the publication Measuring Race and Ethnicity (2011) by Davis LE and Engel RJ. The instrument is publicly referenced and accessible through academic resources.

The instrument can be found at: http://www.springer.com/978-1-4419-6696-4

Reference’s

Contreras‚ J. M. (2004). Parenting behaviors among mainland Puerto Rican adolescent mothers: The role of grandmother and partner involvement. Journal of Research on Adolescence‚ 14‚ 341–368.

Cortes‚ D. E.‚ Deren‚ S.‚ Andia‚ J.‚ Colon‚ H.‚ Robles‚ R.‚ & Kang‚ S. (2003). The use of the Puerto Rican biculturality scale with Puerto Rican drug users in New York and Puerto Rico. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs‚ 35‚ 197–207.

Davis LE and Engel RJ. Measuring Race and Ethnicity. New York‚ NY: Springer 2011.

Lopez‚ I. R.‚ & Contreras‚ J. M. (2005). The best of both worlds: Biculturality‚ acculturation‚ and adjustment among young mainland Puerto Rican mothers. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology‚ 36‚ 192–208.

McKee‚ M. D.‚ Zayas‚ L. H.‚ & Jankowski‚ K. R. B. (2004). Breastfeeding intention and practice in an urban minority population: Relationship to maternal depressive symptoms and mother-infant closeness. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology‚ 22‚ 167–181.

Mezzich‚ J. E.‚ Ruiperez‚ M. A.‚ Yoon‚ G.‚ Liu‚ J.‚ & Zapata-Vega‚ M. I. (2009). Measuring cultural identity: Validation of a modified Cortez‚ Rogler‚ and Malgady bicultural scale in three ethnic groups in New York. Culture‚ Medicine‚ & Psychiatry‚ 33‚ 451–472.

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Items of the American and Puerto Rican Cultural Involvement Scales (APRCIS)

The APRCIS consists of 18 items, rated on a 4-point scale (1 = Not at all; 4 = Very much).

Anglo-American Culture Subscale (Items 1–9):

1. How important is it to you to celebrate holidays in the American way?
2. How much are American values a part of your life?
3. How comfortable would you be in a group of Americans who don’t speak Spanish?
4. How important is it to you to raise your children with American values?
5. How proud are you of being American?
6. Do you think Americans are kind and generous?
7. How much do you enjoy American TV programs?
8. How much do you enjoy speaking English?
9. How many days a week would you like to eat American food?

Puerto Rican Culture Subscale (Items 10–18):

10. How much are Puerto Rican values a part of your life?
11. How important is it to you to celebrate holidays in the Puerto Rican way?
12. How important is it to you to raise your children with Puerto Rican values?
13. How comfortable would you be in a group of Puerto Ricans who don’t speak English?
14. How proud are you of being Puerto Rican?
15. How much do you enjoy speaking Spanish?
16. How much do you enjoy Spanish TV programs?
17. How many days a week would you like to eat Puerto Rican food?
18. Do you think Puerto Ricans are kind and generous?

Deleted Items (Originally considered for inclusion but removed):

• How important would it be to you for your children to have all American friends?
• How important would it be to you for your children to have all Puerto Rican friends?