The development and validation of Direct and Indirect Prejudice Scales (DIPSs)

As international migration continues to reshape societies worldwide, understanding public attitudes toward immigrants has become a critical issue in both academic and policy contexts. This study introduces and validates the Direct and Indirect Prejudice Scales (DIPSs), a psychometric instrument developed to measure prejudice among receiving society members, with a focus on Japan. Using a two-phase approach, we first conducted focus group interviews to identify direct and indirect expressions of prejudice. Insights from this qualitative phase informed the design of a structured questionnaire, which was administered to 770 Japanese nationals residing in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Factor analyses revealed two dimensions of direct prejudice- socio-economic exclusion and public exclusion-and three dimensions of indirect prejudice-defensive ethnocentrism, demand for assimilation, and minimization of differences. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the scale's reliability and construct validity. While the scales was developed in a Japanese context, the findings reflect broader global dynamics, where prejudice increasingly manifests not only in overt discrimination but also in subtle, normalized behaviors. The DIPSs offers a robust, data-driven tool for assessing prejudice across cultural contexts and contributes to the growing field of intercultural and migration studies by enabling cross-national comparisons and informing inclusive policy design.