Measuring Gender Identity and Religious Identity with Adapted Versions of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure—Revised

Abstract

Adolescent identity develops across various domains (e.g., ethnicity, gender, religion). Although these domains share elements of identity (e.g., belongingness, self-categorization) there is a lack of continuity in the elements selected when measuring various domains of adolescent identity. This study tested whether an adapted version of Phinney and Ong's (2007) Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure—Revised (developed to measure adolescents' ethnic identity) could also measure gender and religious identities. Participants (N = 247, 56% female, M age = 13.33 years) completed adapted versions of the MEIM—R measuring gender identity (which we call the Multi-Identity Measure for Gender) and religious identity (Multi-Identity Measure for Religion). Confirmatory factor analysis models for the MIM-Gender and MIM-Religion scales demonstrated modest to good fits. In addition, the MIM-Gender and MIM-Religion scales demonstrated preliminary validity. These preliminary results suggest the adapted MEIM—R scales have the potential to measure domains of adolescent identity beyond ethnicity.