Constructs, concept mapping, and psychometric assessment of the Concise Scale of Individualism–Collectivism

We developed and psychometrically evaluated the Concise Scale of Individualism–Collectivism (CSIC) to support the growing need for cross-cultural research to better understand the relationship between culture and health. To construct the scale, we used the concept mapping technique. The CSIC contains 18 paired items, 9 of which are used to assess respondents’ level of individualism and 9 to assess collectivism, rated using a 5-point Likert scale. We evaluated the instrument using a diverse sample (N = 249, M_age = 29.64, SD = 7.81) consisting of rural-to-urban migrants and nonmigrant rural and urban residents in the city of Wuhan, China. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were .91, .83, and .86 for the total CSIC scale, and for the collectivism and individualism subscales, respectively. A 2-factor model fit the data well, showing that both individualism and collectivism scores significantly differed according to level of education and area of residence, and significantly predicted levels of social capital, social support, resilience, and stress of respondents. We determined that the CSIC has adequate reliability and validity for use in research to quantify cultural beliefs about individualism and collectivism among Chinese adults.