The Development and Validation of the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale
Guo-Ming Chen, Ph.D.
Department of Communication Studies
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI 02881, USA
Tel: (401) 874-4731
Email: gmchen@uri.edu
William J. Starosta, Ph.D.
Department of Communication
Howard University
Washington, D. C. 20059
Tel: (202) 806-4039
Email: wstarosta@fac.howard.edu
The present study developed and assessed reliability and validity of a new instrument, the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS). Based on a review of the literature, 44 items thought to be important for intercultural sensitivity were generated. A sample of 414 college students rated these items and generated a 24-item final version of the instrument which contains five factors. An assessment of concurrent validity from 162 participants indicated that the ISS was significantly correlated with other related scales, including interaction attentiveness, impression rewarding, self-esteem, self-monitoring, and perspective taking. In addition, the predicted validity test from 174 participants showed that individuals with high ISS scores also scored high in intercultural effectiveness and intercultural communication attitude scales. Potential limitations and future direction of the study were discussed as well.