title: Development and Validation of the Bicultural Youth Acculturation Questionnaire.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Acculturation is a multidimensional process involving changes in behaviour and beliefs. Questionnaires developed to measure acculturation are typically designed for specific ethnic populations and adult experiences. This study developed a questionnaire that measures acculturation among ethnically diverse populations of youth that can be included as a module in population surveys.
  
  
  METHODS
  Questionnaires measuring acculturation in youth were identified in the literature. The importance of items from the existing questionnaires was determined using a Delphi process and this informed the development of our questionnaire. The questionnaire was then pilot tested using a sample of 248 Canadians aged 18-25 via an online system. Participants identified as East and South East Asian (27.8%), South Asian (17.7%) and Black (13.7%). The majority were 1st (33.5%) or 2nd generation immigrants (52.0%). After redundant items were eliminated, exploratory factor analysis grouped items into domains, and, for each domain, internal consistency, and convergent validity with immigrant generation then age at immigration estimated. A subset of participants re-completed the questionnaire for reliability estimation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The literature review yielded 117 articles that used 13 questionnaires with a total of 440 questions. The Delphi process reduced these to 32 questions. Pilot testing occurred in 248 Canadians aged 18-25. Following item reduction, 16 questions in three domains remained: dominant culture, heritage language, and heritage culture. All had good internal consistency (Cronbach's alphas > .75). The mean dominant domain score increased with immigrant generation (1st generation: 3.69 (95% CI: 3.49-3.89), 2nd: 4.13 (4.00-4.26), 3rd: 4.40 (4.19-4.61)), and mean heritage language score was higher among those who immigrated after age 12 than before (p = .0001), indicative of convergent validity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This Bicultural Youth Acculturation Questionnaire has demonstrated validity. It can be incorporated into population health surveys to elucidate the impact of acculturation on health outcomes among bicultural youth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Atif
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kukaswadia
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.|School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Janssen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.|Clinical Research Centre, Kingston General Hospital, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Pickett
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Jasmine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bajwa
authors.affiliation: Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Katholiki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Georgiades
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health & Glendon College, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Richard N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Lalonde
authors.affiliation: IWK Health Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
authors.forename: Elizabeth C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Quon
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Saba
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Safdar
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia and BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit, Child and Family Research Institute, BC Children's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pike
mesh_terms: D000069:Acculturation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires