title: Evaluating the invariance of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure across foreign-born, second-generation and later-generation college students in the United States.
abstract: Past research has established that the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) exhibits measurement invariance across diverse ethnic groups. However, relatively little research has evaluated whether this measure is invariant across generational status. Thus, the present study evaluates the invariance of the MEIM across foreign-born, second-generation, and later-generation respondents.
  
  
  
  A large, ethnically diverse sample of college students completed the MEIM as part of an online survey (N = 9,107; 72.8% women; mean age = 20.31 years; SD = 3.38).
  
  
  
  There is evidence of configural and metric invariance, but there is little evidence of scalar invariance across generational status groups.
  
  
  
  This study suggests that the MEIM has an equivalent factor structure across generation groups, indicating it is appropriate to compare the magnitude of associations between the MEIM and other variables across foreign-born, second-generation, and later-generation individuals. However, the lack of scalar invariance suggests that mean-level differences across generational status should be interpreted with caution. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Michigan State University.
authors.forename: Stevie C Y
authors.initials: SCY
authors.lastname: Yap
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Michigan State University.
authors.forename: M Brent
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Donnellan
authors.affiliation: Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami.
authors.forename: Seth J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Smith College.
authors.forename: Byron L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Zamboanga
authors.affiliation: School of Human Ecology, The University of Texas at Austin.
authors.forename: Su Yeong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, California State University, Northridge.
authors.forename: Que-Lam
authors.initials: QL
authors.lastname: Huynh
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Sciences, University of Kentucky.
authors.forename: Alexander T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Vazsonyi
authors.affiliation: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
authors.forename: Miguel Ángel
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: Cano
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Pomona College.
authors.forename: Eric A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Hurley
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
authors.forename: Susan Krauss
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Whitbourne
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University.
authors.forename: Linda G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Castillo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Kennesaw State University.
authors.forename: Roxanne A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Donovan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis.
authors.forename: Shelly A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Blozis
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, St. John's University.
authors.forename: Elissa J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology; D005191:Family Characteristics / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012933:Social Identification; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States / Q000208:ethnology; D055815:Young Adult