Construct validity and dimensionality of the measure of criminal social identity using data drawn from American, Pakistani, and Polish inmates
| Date | 01 August 2016 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-07-2016-0020 |
| Published date | 01 August 2016 |
| Pages | 134-143 |
| Author | Nicole Sherretts,Dominic Willmott |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Criminal psychology,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Deviant behaviour,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice |
Construct validity and dimensionality of
the measure of criminal social identity
using data drawn from American,
Pakistani, and Polish inmates
Nicole Sherretts and Dominic Willmott
Nicole Sherretts and Dominic
Willmott are Doctoral
Researchers in Psychology,
both at the Department of
Behavioural and Social
Sciences, University of
Huddersfield,
Huddersfield, UK.
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to test the construct validity and dimensionality of the measure of
criminal social identity (MCSI) within both a combined sample of American, Pakistani, and Polish inmates, as
well as examined as individual country samples.
Design/methodology/approach –Adopting a cross-sectional survey design, the opportunistic sample
consisted of offenders incarcerated in three different countries; 351 inmates from Poland, 501 from the
USA, and 319 from Pakistan (combined data set n ¼1,171), with inmates completing anonymous,
self-administered, paper-and-pencil questionnaires. Traditional confirmatory factor analysis, along with
confirmatory bi-factor modelling, was used in order to examine the fit of four different models of criminal social
identity (CSI).
Findings –Results revealed that data were best explained by a three-factor model of CSI (cognitive
centrality, in-group ties, and in-group affect) within both combined and individual offender samples.
Composite reliability indicated that the three factors were measured with very good reliability.
Research limitations/implications –Validation of the MCSI within the large cross-cultural combined
prison sample provides substantial support for the measure’s reliability and utility across diverse offender
samples. Consideration of low factor loadings of items one and three for the Pakistan data set and item two
for the US data set, leads the researchers to outline possible recommendations that these questions be
reworded and additional items be added.
Originality/value –This is the first study to validate MCSI cross-culturally and specifically utilising a western
prison sample, consisting of male and female offenders.
Keywords Confirmatory factor analysis, Criminal social identity, Construct validity, Bi-factor modelling,
Cross-cultural prison research, Measure of criminal social identity (MCSI)
Paper type Research paper
The notion of social identity has long been drawn upon to account for diverse human behaviours
and is widely considered to be one of the most well-established theoretical concepts in social
science research (Baumeister and Leary, 1995; Boatswain and Lalonde, 2000; Cameron, 2004;
Cameron and Lalonde, 2001; Obst and White, 2005; Obst et al., 2002; Tajfel, 1978; Tajfel and
Turner, 1979). The application of social identity concepts in the development of a specific criminal
social identity (CSI) is however a less well-researched concept. Despite obtaining empirical
support that a persistent CSI increases the likelihood of development of criminal thinking styles
which in turn, increases the likelihood that an individual will engage in criminality (Boduszek and
Hyland, 2011), attempts to develop a valid measure of such CSI within the literature require
further investigation. The purpose of this paper is therefore to examine the construct validity and
Received 29 July 2016
Revised 4 August 2016
Accepted 4 August 2016
PAGE134
j
JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
j
VOL. 6 NO. 3 2016, pp. 134-143, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2009-3829 DOI 10.1108/JCP-07-2016-0020
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