title: Genes, Culture and Conservatism-A Psychometric-Genetic Approach.
abstract: The Wilson-Patterson conservatism scale was psychometrically evaluated using homogeneity analysis and item response theory models. Results showed that this scale actually measures two different aspects in people: on the one hand people vary in their agreement with either conservative or liberal catch-phrases and on the other hand people vary in their use of the "?" response category of the scale. A 9-item subscale was constructed, consisting of items that seemed to measure liberalism, and this subscale was subsequently used in a biometric analysis including genotype-environment interaction, correcting for non-homogeneous measurement error. Biometric results showed significant genetic and shared environmental influences, and significant genotype-environment interaction effects, suggesting that individuals with a genetic predisposition for conservatism show more non-shared variance but less shared variance than individuals with a genetic predisposition for liberalism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Research Methodology, Measurement, and Data Analysis, University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5, 7522 NB, Enschede, The Netherlands. i.schwabe@utwente.nl.
authors.forename: Inga
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3465-8308
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schwabe
authors.affiliation: Department of Research Methodology, Measurement, and Data Analysis, University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5, 7522 NB, Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Wilfried
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jonker
authors.affiliation: Department of Research Methodology, Measurement, and Data Analysis, University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5, 7522 NB, Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Stéphanie M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: van den Berg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003469:Culture; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008957:Models, Genetic; D011057:Politics; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Conservatism; Genotype–environment interaction; IRT; Liberalism; Measurement error; Psychometrics