Adolescent self‐construal across cultures: Measurement invariance of the Aspects of Identity Questionnaire‐IV in 30 countries

Despite the critical role of culture in understanding adolescent self and identity, there is a lack of cross-culturally validated measures of adolescent self-construal. The present study evaluated cross-national measurement invariance of the Aspects of Identity Questionnaire-IV (AIQ-IV), assessing four dimensions of self-construal: personal, relational, public, and collective. The sample included 16,795 adolescents aged 14-19 years from 30 countries across four continents. The four-factor structure of the AIQ-IV obtained using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) was supported in the vast majority of countries. Exact invariance testing using multi-group ESEM supported configural invariance, indicating that the overall structure of the AIQ-IV was similar across countries. Full scalar invariance was supported only on a subset of countries (i.e., when tests were conducted using European countries grouped by UN geographical regions). An alignment approach provided evidence for the approximate invariance of the ESEM model, with 15.6% of parameters showing noninvariance and allowing for comparison of latent means. The largest number of noninvariant parameters was evident in Asian countries, with items assessing collective-interdependent aspects of identity showing the most variation across countries. A comparison of mean levels of identity orientations across countries revealed that culture-level dimensions of collectivism-individualism do not translate simply into individual-level dimensions of self-construal.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of Research on Adolescence
Published
2025-04-15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.70017
Citations
9
Primary Topic
Cultural Differences and Values
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
21.95

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article

Adolescent self‐construal across cultures: Measurement invariance of the Aspects of Identity Questionnaire‐IV in 30 countries

Tina Kavčič, Joonha Park, Evelyn Fernández Castillo, Sonia Betancourth Zambrano et al.
9 citations
Journal of Research on Adolescence
Cultural Differences and Values
21.95
article

Adolescent self‐construal across cultures: Measurement invariance of the Aspects of Identity Questionnaire‐IV in 30 countries

Tina Kavčič, Joonha Park, Evelyn Fernández Castillo, Sonia Betancourth Zambrano, Jesús Manuel Guerrero Alcedo, Vojana Obradović, Rogelio Puente‐Díaz, Stefan Höfer, Marta Kowal, Szilvia Jámbori, Murat Yıldırım, Ioana Emanuela Orzea, Sze Man Yuen, Shazly Savahl, Laura Zamarian, Rosalinda Cassibba, Wenceslao Unanue, Erzsébet Szél, Marija Zotović, S. Craig Roberts, Andreja Avsec, Ljiljana Kaliterna Lipovčan, Jessie Hillekens, Ali Bakhshi, Christ Billy Aryanto, Danielius Serapinas, Dijana Sulejmanović, Veljko Jovanović, Ahmet Özaslan, Pablo Fernández‐Berrocal, Eduardo Fonseca‐Pedrero, Michał Misiak, Tomasz Frąckowiak, Piotr Sorokowski, Rasa Pilkauskaitė Valickienė, Pasquale Musso, Lizbeth Puerta‐Sierra, Kwok Kit Tong, Milica Lazić, Dušana Šakan, Henri Tilga, Sabirah Adams, Mohsen Joshanloo, Sadia Sultana, Naved Iqbal, Carmen Buzea, Fatemeh Daemi, Md. Hasan Al Banna, Michael Bender, Jesús Unanue, Biljana Gjoneska, Teresa Freire, Vesna Gavrilov‐Jerković, Rebeca Aritio Solana, Andreja Brajša‐Žganec, Judith Cavazos‐Arroyo, Marija Džida, Rosario Cabello, Sophie Berjot, Marieke van Egmond, Denisse Manrique‐Millones, Agnieszka Sorokowska, Yunier Broche‐Pérez, Gaja Zager Kocjan, Puji Tania Ronauli, M. Kabir, Aleksandar Tomašević, Diego D. Díaz‐Guerra, Javier Ortuño Sierra, Gordana Ristevska Dimitrovska, Valentina Carreca, Mona Eidelsburger, Marija Krstevska Taseva, Marija Pašić, Sok Ian Kuan
article en
9 citations

Abstract

Despite the critical role of culture in understanding adolescent self and identity, there is a lack of cross-culturally validated measures of adolescent self-construal. The present study evaluated cross-national measurement invariance of the Aspects of Identity Questionnaire-IV (AIQ-IV), assessing four dimensions of self-construal: personal, relational, public, and collective. The sample included 16,795 adolescents aged 14-19 years from 30 countries across four continents. The four-factor structure of the AIQ-IV obtained using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) was supported in the vast majority of countries. Exact invariance testing using multi-group ESEM supported configural invariance, indicating that the overall structure of the AIQ-IV was similar across countries. Full scalar invariance was supported only on a subset of countries (i.e., when tests were conducted using European countries grouped by UN geographical regions). An alignment approach provided evidence for the approximate invariance of the ESEM model, with 15.6% of parameters showing noninvariance and allowing for comparison of latent means. The largest number of noninvariant parameters was evident in Asian countries, with items assessing collective-interdependent aspects of identity showing the most variation across countries. A comparison of mean levels of identity orientations across countries revealed that culture-level dimensions of collectivism-individualism do not translate simply into individual-level dimensions of self-construal.

Journal of Research on AdolescenceVol. 35(2)
Khazar University (AZ), University of Stirling (GB), Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LT), Universidad Andrés Bello (CL), Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla (MX), Innsbruck Medical University (AT), Mykolas Romeris University (LT), University of Ljubljana (SI), University of Cape Town (ZA), Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia (ID), Universidad de La Rioja (ES), University of Novi Sad (RS), Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MK), University of Toronto (CA), Universität Innsbruck (AT), Tilburg University (NL), University of Macau (MO), Adolfo Ibáñez University (CL), University of Wrocław (PL), University of Szeged (HU), Universidad Científica del Sur (PE), University of Nariño (CO), University "St. Kliment Ohridski" - Bitola (MK), Universidad Central "Marta Abreu" de las Villas (UCLV) (CU), Patuakhali Science and Technology University (BD), Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University (TR), Transylvania University of Brașov (RO), University of Oxford (GB), Islamic Azad University Central Tehran Branch (IR), Union University (RS), Universidad Anáhuac (MX), Institute of Psychology (PL), Kyoto University of Education (JP), UC Irvine Health (US), Institut Društvenih Znanosti Ivo Pilar (HR), Biocrates Life Sciences (Austria) (AT), Jahangirnagar University (BD), Keimyung University (KR), University of Bihać (BA), University of Bari Aldo Moro (IT), University of Tartu (EE), University of Montenegro (ME), Jamia Millia Islamia (IN), Universidad de Málaga (ES), University of the Western Cape (ZA), Gazi University (TR), Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne (FR), University of Minho (PT)
Fundacja na rzecz Nauki Polskiej, Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS, Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, Foundation for Science and Technology
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Cultural Differences and Values
21.95
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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