Students’ multicultural attitudes and the role of background characteristics

In recent years, global efforts have intensified to foster inclusive school environments and promote positive attitudes toward diversity. This study examines certain aspects of validity of an instrument designed to measure students’ multicultural attitudes and investigates the influence of students’ background characteristics. Using data from 450 secondary education students, Confirmatory Factor Analyses confirmed that the Munroe Multicultural Attitude Scale Questionnaire (MASQUE; Munroe & Pearson, 2006) consistently measures the underlying constructs (i.e., cognitive, affective, and behavioral domains) within the examined context, as theoretically proposed. Structural regressions revealed that immigrant background and language had no significant impact on students’ multicultural attitudes, but gender did, with female students exhibiting higher scores. Social desirability bias was also detected in students’ responses related to the affective and behavioral, but not the cognitive component of multicultural attitudes. The findings contribute to the research on multicultural instrumentation, with implications for theory, research, and practice. • Multicultural attitudes comprise cognitive, affective, and behavioral domains. • Gender gaps in multicultural attitudes favoring female students were identified. • Immigrant background and language did not affect students’ multicultural attitudes. • Social desirability bias in students’ responses was found only for certain domains. • The validity of the adapted Greek version of the MASQUE was supported.