The Development and Validation of an Instrument to Assess an Optimal Afrocentric World View

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Abstract
An optimal Afrocentric belief system is characterized by a holistic, nonmaterialistic, and communal orientation in persons. An instrument to assess one's degree of adherence to an abstraction of this world view, the Belief Systems Analysis Scale (BSAS), was developed and psychometrically evaluated. To assess the instrument's construct validity, college students (66 females and 29 males) were administered the BSAS, the Dogmatism Scale, the Social Interest Scale, and the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised. The BSAS correlated significantly (p < .001) in the expected direction with all three of the criterion variables. Further analyses indicated that the BSAS is internally consistent (Cronbach's Alpha = .80) and multifactorial. The test-retest reliability coefficent (n = 41, one week apart) was r = .63. It is tentatively concluded that the BSAS has potential as a valid and reliable measure of an optimal Afrocentric world view and may be useful both as a research and clinical instrument.