Attitudes Toward Christian Women Scale – ACWS
Measures patriarchal Christian beliefs held by adult women regarding roles in the family, church, and community.
Scale Development & Technical Details
Scale Overview
The Attitudes Toward Christian Women Scale – ACWS was developed by L. E. Postovoit (1990). It is designed to measure Patriarchal Christian beliefs regarding women’s roles. The scale is intended for use with Adult women.
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 34 items organized into 5 factors/subscales: Female Physical and Emotional Independence, Female Submissiveness and Guilt, Female Innate and Demonstrated Efficacy, Martyrdom, God’s Nature.
| Factor / Subscale | Items | N |
|---|---|---|
| Female Physical and Emotional Independence | 2,3,14,22,25,28 | 6 |
| Female Submissiveness and Guilt | 6,11,12,13 | 4 |
| Female Innate and Demonstrated Efficacy | 7,8,9,15,16,17,18,33 | 8 |
| Martyrdom | 30,32 | 2 |
| God's Nature | 19,24 | 2 |
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 1 = Strongly Disagree, 2 = Moderately Disagree, 3 = Slightly Disagree, 4 = Slightly Agree, 5 = Moderately Agree, 6 = Strongly Agree.
The scale includes 17 reverse-scored items to reduce acquiescence bias.
Scoring
Items are scored by subscale, with each subscale sum representing a distinct dimension.
Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency with reported Cronbach’s alpha values of Not reported.
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.