Individualism and collectivism within the U.S.

Abstract

This investigation was undertaken to examine the 32 item Individualism-Collectivism Scale, INDCOL and determine its constructs and measurements; to evaluate a similar instrument, the Social Representation Scale, SRS; and to assess the degree to which these two instruments are related. Subjects were 846 (507 females and 339 males) university students who participated in this single group, survey study. Analyses on INDCOL assessed whether individualism-collectivism, IC, was a one-, two-, or four-factor instrument. The four-factor structure of horizontal individualism (HI), horizontal collectivism (HC), vertical individualism (VI), vertical collectivism (VC) of individualism-collectivism (IC) indicated the best tit of models. The factor structure of the SRS was also assessed. SRS appeared to measure individualism and collectivism, and provided convergent validity. A third entity, selfless giving, a construct similar to altruism and humanitarianism was a proposed third construct of the three-factor model. The three-factor structure of individualism, collectivism, and selfless giving presented a fit index of .90 which is considered a good tit. Findings indicated that SRS and INDCOL have similar dimensions that are more strongly related than their dissimilar dimensions. SRS appeared to be measuring IC more reliably than INDCOL based on reliabilities of their respective scales. SRS seems to be a viable alternative to INDCOL.