The Measurement and Evaluation of Social Attitudes in Two British Cohort Studies |
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Authors: | Helen Cheng John Bynner Richard Wiggins Ingrid Schoon |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Quantitative Social Science, Institute of Education, University of London, London, WC1H 0AL, UK;(2) Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University of London, London, WC1H 0AL, UK |
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Abstract: | This paper presents an empirical evaluation of the internal consistency and validity of six attitudes scales assessing left–right
beliefs, political cynicism, antiracism, libertarian-authoritarian views, and gender equality (two versions) in two large
nationally representative samples of the British population born in 1958 and 1970. In the 1958 National Child Development
Study (NCDS) 10,827 participants completed a series of social attitudes items in 1991 at age 33 and again in 2000 at age 42.
In 2000 at age 30, 11,114 participants of the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) completed a broadly similar set of items of
which 8,906 participants had also completed a shorter version of the same social attitudes questionnaires 4 years earlier
in 1996, at age 26. Based on the data from the two cohorts we conducted confirmatory analyses to evaluate the factor structure
of the six social attitudes scales using Structural Equation Modelling. In addition we tested the predictive as well as concurrent
validity of the scales by establishing associations within the scales across time and their associations with indicators of
voting behaviour and political interest. All six attitudes scales have good internal reliability and factorial stability,
and external validity, they are robust and consistent over time. The measures also have wide applicability for researchers
interested in social attitudes and behaviour in times of social change. |
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