Development of an attribution of racial/ethnic health disparities scale.

The purpose of this study was to develop an Attribution of Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities (AREHD) scale. A convenience sample of undergraduate college students (n = 423) at four Midwestern universities was recruited to respond to the survey. A pilot test with undergraduate students (n = 23) found the survey had good acceptability and readability level (SMOG = 11th grade). Using exploratory factor analysis we found the two a priori subscales were confirmed: individual responsibility and social determinants. Internal reliabilities of the subscales were: individual responsibility (alpha = 0.87) and social determinants (alpha = 0.90). Test-retest stability reliabilities were: individual responsibility (r = 0.72) and social determinants (r = 0.69). The AREHD subscales are satisfactory for assessing college student's AREHD.