Detecting Authoritarianism Efficiently: Psychometric Properties of the Screening Instrument Authoritarianism – Ultra Short (A-US) in a German Representative Sample
With right-wing-extremist and -populist parties and movements on the rise throughout the world, the concept of authoritarianism has proven to be particularly valuable to explain the psychological underpinnings of these tendencies. Even though many scales to measure the different dimensions of author...
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doaj-395d7a920b5849019b9c1390799a2b002020-11-25T04:12:06ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782020-11-011110.3389/fpsyg.2020.533863533863Detecting Authoritarianism Efficiently: Psychometric Properties of the Screening Instrument Authoritarianism – Ultra Short (A-US) in a German Representative SampleAyline Heller0Oliver Decker1Bjarne Schmalbach2Manfred Beutel3Jörg M. Fegert4Elmar Brähler5Elmar Brähler6Markus Zenger7Markus Zenger8Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, GermanyCentre for the Study of Right-Wing Extremism and Democracy and Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, GermanyDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychotherapy, Ulm University, Ulm, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, GermanyCentre for the Study of Right-Wing Extremism and Democracy and Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, GermanyFaculty of Applied Human Studies, Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences, Stendal, GermanyIntegrated Research and Treatment Center (IFB) Adiposity Diseases – Behavioral Medicine, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig Medical Center, Leipzig, GermanyWith right-wing-extremist and -populist parties and movements on the rise throughout the world, the concept of authoritarianism has proven to be particularly valuable to explain the psychological underpinnings of these tendencies. Even though many scales to measure the different dimensions of authoritarianism exist, no short screening instrument has been tested and validated on a large scale so far. The present study examines the psychometric properties of the screening instrument Authoritarianism – Ultrashort (A-US) in three representative German samples (n = 2,524, n = 2,478, and n = 2,495). Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the A-US demonstrated acceptable internal consistency. Model fit was good and correlations with related constructs indicated convergent validity in both samples. Construct validity was demonstrated using the original version of the scale. The instrument proved to be invariant across sex, employment status, and education, but not across different age groups. Finally, the analyses showed that differences in the A-US are associated with sociodemographic variables. Potential causes and effects of these findings are discussed. Based on these results, the A-US proved to be a valuable and highly efficient tool to screen for authoritarian tendencies.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.533863/fullauthoritarianismright-wing authoritarianism (RWA)screening instrumentscreenervalidation |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Ayline Heller Oliver Decker Bjarne Schmalbach Manfred Beutel Jörg M. Fegert Elmar Brähler Elmar Brähler Markus Zenger Markus Zenger |
spellingShingle |
Ayline Heller Oliver Decker Bjarne Schmalbach Manfred Beutel Jörg M. Fegert Elmar Brähler Elmar Brähler Markus Zenger Markus Zenger Detecting Authoritarianism Efficiently: Psychometric Properties of the Screening Instrument Authoritarianism – Ultra Short (A-US) in a German Representative Sample Frontiers in Psychology authoritarianism right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) screening instrument screener validation |
author_facet |
Ayline Heller Oliver Decker Bjarne Schmalbach Manfred Beutel Jörg M. Fegert Elmar Brähler Elmar Brähler Markus Zenger Markus Zenger |
author_sort |
Ayline Heller |
title |
Detecting Authoritarianism Efficiently: Psychometric Properties of the Screening Instrument Authoritarianism – Ultra Short (A-US) in a German Representative Sample |
title_short |
Detecting Authoritarianism Efficiently: Psychometric Properties of the Screening Instrument Authoritarianism – Ultra Short (A-US) in a German Representative Sample |
title_full |
Detecting Authoritarianism Efficiently: Psychometric Properties of the Screening Instrument Authoritarianism – Ultra Short (A-US) in a German Representative Sample |
title_fullStr |
Detecting Authoritarianism Efficiently: Psychometric Properties of the Screening Instrument Authoritarianism – Ultra Short (A-US) in a German Representative Sample |
title_full_unstemmed |
Detecting Authoritarianism Efficiently: Psychometric Properties of the Screening Instrument Authoritarianism – Ultra Short (A-US) in a German Representative Sample |
title_sort |
detecting authoritarianism efficiently: psychometric properties of the screening instrument authoritarianism – ultra short (a-us) in a german representative sample |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Psychology |
issn |
1664-1078 |
publishDate |
2020-11-01 |
description |
With right-wing-extremist and -populist parties and movements on the rise throughout the world, the concept of authoritarianism has proven to be particularly valuable to explain the psychological underpinnings of these tendencies. Even though many scales to measure the different dimensions of authoritarianism exist, no short screening instrument has been tested and validated on a large scale so far. The present study examines the psychometric properties of the screening instrument Authoritarianism – Ultrashort (A-US) in three representative German samples (n = 2,524, n = 2,478, and n = 2,495). Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the A-US demonstrated acceptable internal consistency. Model fit was good and correlations with related constructs indicated convergent validity in both samples. Construct validity was demonstrated using the original version of the scale. The instrument proved to be invariant across sex, employment status, and education, but not across different age groups. Finally, the analyses showed that differences in the A-US are associated with sociodemographic variables. Potential causes and effects of these findings are discussed. Based on these results, the A-US proved to be a valuable and highly efficient tool to screen for authoritarian tendencies. |
topic |
authoritarianism right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) screening instrument screener validation |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.533863/full |
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