Racial Identity in White American College Students: Issues of Conceptualization and Measurement

Racial identity primarily has been researched in the United States as a variable affecting ethnic minority individuals; however, due to changing demographics, researchers have begun to examine the construct for White individuals as well. While the White Racial Identity Attitudes Scale (WRIAS) is the most commonly used instrument to assess White racial identity, it has also been the most scrutinized. To address some of the controversy surrounding the measure's validity, a principal components analysis of the measure was conducted with data from 430 college students in a Southern urban city. The results indicated four factors that did not correspond to the original scales of the WRIAS. In fact, the rescaled constructs reflected two dimensions of positive White identity and two dimensions of negative White identity. Implications for the utilization of the rescaled measure for college populations are given.