A New Measure of Asian American Racial Identity Ideological Values (AARIIV): Unity, Interracial Solidarity, and Transnational Critical Consciousness

Psychological research and theory focused on distinct racialization and racial identity experiences of Asian Americans are limited. Our article proposes a new measure of ideological values related to Asian American racial identity that draws on Asian Critical Race Theory and Asian Americanist perspectives that emphasize the unique history of oppression, resilience, and resistance among Asians in America. Across three studies with a combined sample of 860 Asian American college students, we created and confirmed the bifactor structure and fit of the 13-item measure of Asian American Racial Identity Ideological Values (AARIIV), with three subscales. Asian American Unity is a cultural response to the discourse on who is included in the category “Asian American” across intersections of social positionalities. Interracial Solidarity is a cultural response to the shared experiences of discrimination and exploitation among all racial minority groups. Transnational Critical Consciousness is a cultural response to Asians in the United States and Asians abroad who share overlapping racialization and discrimination experiences due to white supremacy and imperialism. The three-subscale structure of the AARIIV was supported by a combination of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Evidence of convergent validity was supported as it positively correlated with awareness of racism, critical reflection, critical action, racial centrality, ethnic pride, and ethnic engagement; and negatively correlated with internalization of the model minority myth and colorblind racial attitudes. Evidence of incremental validity was supported as AARIIV predicted colorblind racial attitudes and critical consciousness above and beyond broad-ranging measures of racial identity and ethnic identity.