Identification and Involvement With the Gay Community Scale – IGCS
Measures perceived closeness to and behavioral involvement with the gay community among men who have sex with men.
Scale Development & Technical Details
Scale Overview
The Identification and Involvement With the Gay Community Scale – IGCS was developed by Peter A. Vanable, David J. McKirnan, and Joseph P. Stokes (1995). It is designed to measure Gay community identification and involvement. The scale is intended for use with Men who have sex with men (MSM).
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 8 items.
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 1 = 1 / A (Do not agree at all / Never / None), 2 = 2 / B (Once a month or less / 1 friend), 3 = 3 / C (Several times a month / 2 friends), 4 = 4 / D (About once a week / 3 or 4 friends), 5 = 5 / E (Strongly agree / Several times a week or daily / 5 or more friends).
The scale includes 1 reverse-scored items to reduce acquiescence bias.
Scoring
Item scores are averaged to produce a mean score.
Total scores range from 1 to 5. Interpretation guidelines:
- Low identification and involvement: 1 – 2
- Moderate identification and involvement: 2 – 3
- High identification and involvement: 3 – 5
Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency with reported Cronbach’s alpha values of Cronbach's alpha of .78, 1-year test-retest reliability of .74.
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 3 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.