Tolerance towards difference: Adaptation and psychometric properties of the Spanish version of a new measure of tolerance and sex-moderated relations with prejudice

Abstract

The present research aims at adapting to the Spanish context and language a measure of tolerance toward diversity recently developed, at analyzing its psychometric properties, and at examining the moderating effect of participants’ sex on the relations between tolerance and prejudice. We conducted two studies considering two Spanish samples taken from the general population. In Study 1 (N = 586; 70.5 % females; Mage = 37.77, SD = 12.34) we confirmed the three-factorial structure of the questionnaire (i.e., acceptance of diversity, respect for diversity and appreciation of diversity) and their invariance across sex groups. In Study 2 (N = 333; 60.4 % females; Mage = 36.20, SD = 13.36) evidence of validity based on the relations of tolerance with prejudice (modern racism, hostile sexism, and benevolent sexism) are presented. Additional findings reveal the role of the appreciation of diversity dimension to reduce prejudice, as well as differences between men and women in this relation: when participants express low appreciation of diversity, men show more hostile sexism and modern racism than women. Such differences did not emerge for those who highly appreciate diversity. The implications of using this multidimensional questionnaire to measure tolerance are discussed.