General Ethnicity Questionnaire – American Version (GEQA)
Measures cultural orientation and acculturation to American culture across multiple domains including language, social affiliation, activities, pride, media, and food.
Scale Development & Technical Details
Scale Overview
The General Ethnicity Questionnaire – American Version (GEQA) was developed by Jeanne L. Tsai, Ying-Yi Ying, and Peter A. Lee (2000). It is designed to measure Acculturation and Cultural Orientation. The scale is intended for use with Multicultural individuals, immigrants, and ethnic minorities (originally validated with Chinese Americans).
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 38 items organized into 7 factors/subscales: Language, Social Affiliation, Activities, Pride, Media, Food, General.
| Factor / Subscale | Items | N |
|---|---|---|
| Language | 1,2,11,26,27,28,30,34,35,36,37,38 | 12 |
| Social Affiliation | 10,12,14,21,22,24 | 6 |
| Activities | 15,16,17,18 | 4 |
| Pride | 4,5,6,7,13 | 5 |
| Media | 31,32,33 | 3 |
| Food | 19,20 | 2 |
| General | 3,8,9,23,25 | 5 |
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 1 = Strongly Disagree (Items 1-25) / Very much (Items 26-38), 2 = Disagree (Items 1-25) / Much (Items 26-38), 3 = Neutral (Items 1-25) / Somewhat (Items 26-38), 4 = Agree (Items 1-25) / A little (Items 26-38), 5 = Strongly Agree (Items 1-25) / Not at all (Items 26-38).
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 American Orientation: 1 – 2
- Moderate American Orientation: 2 – 3
- High American Orientation: 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 typically ranges from .70 to .90 across subscales.
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.