Development of Japanese versions of the Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) scale

Abstract

The right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) scale has been associated with prejudice, discrimination, and intergroup conflict. This study developed Japanese versions of the RWA scale and examined their validity. Although it is a well-established assessment tool to measure authoritarian dispositions, none of the RWA scales translated into Japanese were standardized. In this study, we translated the RWA scale items into Japanese using the back translation method and verified their reliability and construct validity. Results revealed that Japanese versions of the RWA scale comprised two factors with a method factor and had adequate reliability and construct validity. This study provides new insights into the structure of authoritarian personalities in the Japanese population.