Kamil Janowicz

My name is Arm (This my google scholar : Yuttapong Tonpradoo) from Mahasarakham University, Thailand. I would be happy to support your research. My research involves multidimensional ethnographic studies. Then bring the strengths to create added value. for publicizing that national identity, such as alternative gender, ethnic fishermen, ethnic Mani on the Andaman side of Thailand"

I recommend

1.https://so03.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/jis/article/view/114517 (The Development of Costumes in Baba Wedding Ceremony to Cabaret Shows)

2.https://so05.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/pkrujo/article/view/242202 (The Study Indigenous Case Study of Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi Province to Creative Performances Dance)

3.https://so05.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/pkrujo/article/view/242523 (Mani Margin Group : The Application to cheerleaders)

Dear Yuttapong Tonpradoo ,

thank you for your answer. However, we have chosen specific approach to measuring identity in our project, so it will be impossible to include your ideas mentioned in your answer.

Kind regards,

Kamil Janowicz

Hi Kamil,

It depends a little bit on what you're looking for. Direct cross-cultural comparisons (incl. invariance testing) using the DIDS are not very common, but see here for an exception (there's probably more): Article Sense of community, identity statuses, and loneliness in ado...

The DIDS has been used in a wide variety of countries and then usually tests were run to examine whether the original five-factor structure would hold, which often wasn't the case. There's quite some work suggesting that a six-factor structure has a better fit. See for example here: Article Testing New Identity Models and Processes in French-speaking...

However, that six-factor model isn't that great either as it comes with one 2-item factor. Also, not all studies clearly favor a six-factor solution. See for example here: Article Testing a process-oriented model of identity development in ...

Finally, there's some other recent work suggesting there's some measurement issues with the DIDS (and the U-MICS), but do note that this likely the case for measures of many other constructs and the DIDS still is useful if you're aware of the limitations. Here's that paper: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2022-98536-001

I hope this is helpful!

Dear Theo Klimstra ,

Thank you very much for your answer. I was looking for research like the first one attached by you ("Sense of community, identity statuses, and loneliness in adolescence: A cross-national study on Italian and Belgian youth"). I found this one earlier, and I wanted to know whether more research like this exists or not. To be honest, I am a little surprised due to the limited number of direct cross-cultural comparisons using DIDS and no study testing its measurement invariance.

In our team, we are working on testing the measurement invariance of the U-MICS adopted to a parental domain, so we are looking at cross-cultural studies on identity development as a framework for our analyses.

I appreciate your support.

Kamil

Hi Kamil Janowicz ,

Sounds like an interesting project! The lack of studies on direct cross-cultural comparisons using the DIDS partly is due to the interest/orientation of several of the researchers using the DIDS, including myself. Although I've been a coauthor on several papers presenting cross-cultural comparisons, I have also shifted away from that in recent years. At least for the research questions I'm interested in, comparisons between countries and cultures aren't really necessary and it suffices to know that a measure is valid within a particular context. On top of that, I've become more skeptical of mean-level comparisons across cultures as even after establishing invariance there's a whole lot of other factors that play into these comparisons (e.g., frame of reference effects, so people's tendencies to rate themselves using those in their direct environment as a reference, or just the fact that not everything really translates that well across settings despite it not affecting factor loadings). I know that I'm not the only one who's become more skeptical about cross-cultural comparisons, but that is not to say that such comparisons can't be valuable. Also, if you don't find invariance, that'd be very interesting and important to report on!

Theo

Dear Theo Klimstra ,

Thank you for sharing your reflections and doubts here. I see some important benefits from cross-cultural studies on identity:

1) It allows us to verify whether the identity development process is similar across various countries. For me, it has at least two significant implications. For research, potential differences may call for caution in adapting some methods or hypotheses from one culture to another. For education, we should be cautious in teaching students about some 'universal' and 'general' patterns of identity development, while they might vary across cultures.

2) With established measurement invariance, it is possible to examine whether relations between identity development and other factors are similar. That should be vital for research and policy (e.g., in the case of intervention aimed at supporting identity development).

3) Potential observed cross-cultural differences might call for investigating culture-specific factors influencing identity development.

I agree that good translation and even established measurement invariance may be too less to claim that 'it is the same'. I think that the qualitative approach investigating how people understand our measures (e.g., DIDS, U-MICS) and interact with them may be helpful and interesting.

According to the measurement invariance, I think it is good that we pay more attention to the psychometric aspects of cross-cultural studies. Or, more broadly, between-groups comparisons. Too many studies have been conducted without proper care about such things.

In our study, we have found full configural and partial metric and partial scalar invariance of the U-MICS referring to the parental identity between Poland, the USA, Japan, South Africa, and Israel. We hope to submit the paper at the beginning of 2023, so it may be published next year.

Thank you for your contribution to that topic and for answering my questions!

Kamil

Thanks, Kamil Janowicz ! That's a good reason to do this kind of research. I'm looking forward to see your study!

Theo