Parental Attitudes Towards Inclusiveness Instrument (PATII): Psychometric evaluation of a new instrument measuring parental beliefs about gender and sexuality diversity inclusions in schools

Abstract

Despite ad hoc claims that parents often are in opposition to a schooling curriculum that is inclusive of gender and sexuality diversity, there exists no research to date that has canvassed the reasons why parents may oppose or support such educational policy via a psychometrically sound instrument. The aim of the present study was to address this gap by developing and testing a new, multidimensional measure of the theorized nature of parental attitudes towards inclusiveness, the Parental Attitudes Towards Inclusiveness Instrument (PATII). The pilot sample of 998 parents who had a child attending school in any grade from Kindergarten to Year 12 were drawn from the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (U.S.) via the online recruitment platform, Prolific. The PATII was evaluated for its reliability using McDonald's omega, construct and criterion validity, and measurement invariance utilizing exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM), with initial ESEM analyses also compared to traditional confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) methods. Scores derived from this measure and inferences based upon those scores were reliable, valid, and also invariant across sex, religiosity, and nationality groups within this sample. Parental sex, religiosity, and nationality group membership were differentially correlated with support for and opposition to an inclusive curriculum. Lastly, the criterion validity of the PATII was supported, with the instrument's factors differentially correlated to parents' desired providers of inclusive education as predicted. Future national and international use of the PATII offers a critical first step to informing school and curriculum policy on inclusivity.

Keywords: Construct validity; Education; Exploratory structural equation modelling; Gender and sexuality diversity; Parents.