Psychometric performance of the brief Francis scale of attitude towards Christianity (Francis-4) in Mexican university students

ABSTRACT

The brief Francis scale of attitude towards Christianity (Francis-4) psychometric performance in Mexico is unknown. The objective was to evaluate the dimensionality, homogeneity, gender differential item functioning (DIF), and nomological validity of Francis-4. 1,108 university students between 18 and 60 years of age were evaluated; 80.4% were women (n = 891). CFA was performed with the following fit indicators: chi-square, RMSEA, CFI, TLI, and McDonald’s omega were calculated. For nomological validity, the mean and standard deviation according to gender were compared with Student’s t-test. Gender DIF was quantified with Kendall’s tau-b. The CFA revealed the following goodness-of-fit coefficients: chi-square = 25.45, df = 2, p = .001, RMSEA = .10, 90% CI .07 – .14, CFI = .99, TLI = .99, and SRMR = .01. Cronbach’s alpha of .97 and McDonald’s omega were .97. Scores were significantly higher in women than in men (M = 8.9, SD = 5.4 versus M = 7.6, t = 3.15, p = .002). Kendall’s tau ranged from .07 to .09 indicating absence of gender DIF. Francis-4 is a unidimensional instrument with nomological validity, high internal consistency, and absence of gender DIF. It is recommended to evaluate its performance in other populations.

KEYWORDS:

• Christianity
• validity and reliability
• factor analysis
• validation studies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Universidad del Magdalena [Resolution 266, 2020 of the Research Vice-rectory].

Notes on contributors

Carlos Arturo Cassiani-Miranda

Carlos Arturo Cassiani-Miranda, MD, MSc. He is a psychiatrist, magister in drug dependence and professor at the School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Science, University of Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia. His research interests include substance abuse and dependence, prejudice and discrimination, and psychometrics.

Adalberto Campo-Arias

Adalberto Campo-Arias, MD, MSc. He is a psychiatrist, magister in sexual and reproductive health and professor at the School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Science, University of Magdalena, Santa Marta, Colombia. His research interests include sexual and reproductive health, human rights, prejudice and discrimination, and psychometrics.

Isabel Álvarez-Solorza

Isabel Álvarez-Solorza, RN. She is nurse, professor at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico, Toluca, Mexico. Her research interests include sexual and reproductive health and adolescent health compromising behaviours.