Purpose. The purpose of this dissertation was to evaluate the construct validity of the African American Acculturation Scale - Short Form (AAAS-33), which is a leading scale to measure African American Acculturation and the Black Racial Identity Attitudes Survey (RIAS-B), which is a leading scale to measure African American racial identity development. These scales were normed using college and community samples. The current study examined these measures to determine if they are valid when considering African American mental health consumers.

Method. A series of confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to examine the construct validity of the AAAS-33 and RIAS-B using an archival sample of 88 African American mental health consumers (38 male and 50 female, M = 39.6 years, SD = 10.60). The variables that were assessed included the 10 subscales of the AAAS-33 (Preference for Things African American, Religious Beliefs/Practices, Traditional Foods, Traditional Childhood, Superstitions, Interracial Attitudes, Falling Out, Traditional Games, Family Values, and Family Practices) and the 4 subscales of the RIAS-B (Pre-encounter, Encounter, Immersion/Emersion, and Internalization). Subsequent exploratory factor analyses were conducted in cases where the existing factor structure could not be confirmed.

Results. The confirmatory factor analyses were unable to support the existing models for neither the AAAS-33 nor the RIAS-B even after models were re-specified. Subsequent exploratory factor analyses revealed a 7-factor structure with 23 items for the AAAS with the following factors: Preference for Things African American, Cultural Mistrust, Religious Beliefs/Practices, Childhood Experiences, Food, Superstitions, and Falling Out. Exploratory factor analyses revealed a 3-factor structure with 12 items for the RIAS-B with the following factors: Pre-encounter, Encounter and Immersion/Emersion.

Discussion. Results indicated that the AAAS-33 and RIAS-B may not be applicable in their current form with African American mental health consumers. Results indicated that African American mental health consumers experience acculturation and racial identity development in a different manner from other African Americans. Shorter versions of the AAAS and RIAS with slightly different factor structures may be more applicable with African American mental health consumers. Future research should incorporate qualitative data to support these findings.