An Innovative Indirect Measure of Socioeconomic Status (SES)‐Related Intergroup Differentiation Among Adolescents

INTRODUCTION: Adolescence is a critical period for understanding social class, forming class-related attitudes, and shaping future social engagement. However, the global educational segregation trend may hinder this learning by separating adolescents into socioeconomic status (SES)-based school settings, thereby fostering intergroup misunderstandings, prejudice, and weakening social cohesion. Before implementing interventions to reduce these divides, a reliable, valid, and age-appropriate measure of SES-related attitudes is needed. To address socially desirable responding in explicit measures, this study developed and evaluated the Intergroup Indirect Attitude-relevant Differentiation Measure (IIAM) for assessing adolescents' SES-related attitude-relevant differentiation. METHODS: = 13.06, including both female and male students) in Mainland China and Hong Kong participated. The IIAM was developed using the Error-Choice technique, with items informed by a literature review and expert panel input. Face and content validity were examined through cognitive interviews, construct validity was assessed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: Findings indicated that the IIAM showed good face validity and strong internal consistency, with Cronbach's alpha values in the 0.80s. Both EFA and CFA supported a unidimensional, seven-item structure with satisfactory model fit. CONCLUSION: The IIAM appears to be a feasible indirect measure of SES-related attitude-relevant intergroup differentiation, with preliminary evidence supporting its internal consistency and dimensional structure among higher-SES adolescents. Further research is encouraged to confirm the internal consistency, construct validity of the measure in socioeconomically heterogeneous samples, including adolescents from lower-SES backgrounds.