Journal
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 13, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.941466
Keywords
authoritarianism; second-order factors; measurement invariance; latent mean differences; repeated cross sections
Categories
Funding
- Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) [01UJ1911AY]
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Modern theories of authoritarianism emphasize the importance of threat in shaping authoritarian attitudes. This study found an increase in authoritarian tendencies during the COVID-19 pandemic, but a decrease in latent means contrary to expectations. Latent means also differed based on gender, education, and geographical location.
Modern theories of authoritarianism have stressed the importance of threat to the expression of authoritarian attitudes and intolerance. Arguably, authoritarian tendencies may have increased during COVID-19 pandemic, a major threat to life and security. One issue arising when comparing mean scores is that of measurement invariance. Meaningful comparisons are only possible, if latent constructs are similar between groups and/or across time. This prerequisite is rarely ever tested in research on authoritarianism. In this study, we aim to analyze the short scale for authoritarianism KSA-3 by investigating its measurement invariance on two levels (three first-order and one second-order factors) and latent mean changes using two German representative samples (N = 4,905). Specifically, we look at differences before and during the pandemic (2017 vs. 2020). While measurement invariance holds across both levels in all conditions, we find a decrease in latent means in 2020, contrary to expectations and established theories. Moreover, latent means differ with regard to gender, education, and east-west Germany. We conclude that analyses of latent means and measurement invariance instead of mean comparisons with composites should become the standard. Future studies should focus on threat as a moderator between authoritarianism and intolerance, and on possible interactions with context variables.
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