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Testing Measurement Invariance of the Left-Wing Authoritarianism Index-13 (LWAI-13) in a US Adult Sample

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European Journal of Psychological Assessment
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Joshua Tripp Lambert at University of Alabama
Joshua Tripp Lambert
William Hart
William Hart
William Hart
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Danielle E. Wahlers
Danielle E. Wahlers
Danielle E. Wahlers
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Braden Hall at University of Alabama
Braden Hall
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Abstract and Figures

Authoritarianism has been of interest to multiple fields in the social sciences (e.g., psychology, political science). Though traditionally conceptualized as a right-wing phenomenon, burgeoning research suggests it is also a left-wing phenomenon. The Left-Wing Authoritarianism Index-13 (LWAI-13) was recently developed as a brief measure of left-wing authoritarianism and its three factors: anti-hierarchical aggression, top-down censorship, and anti-conventionalism. Though prior work provided evidence for the LWAI-13’s factor structure and construct validity, its measurement invariance (MI) remains untested. We evaluated the LWAI-13’s MI regarding sex, age, and education; scalar MI was evidenced for all groupings. Thus, the structural properties of the LWAI-13 appeared robust to the three group distinctions.
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Brief Report
Testing Measurement Invariance
of the Left-Wing Authoritarianism
Index-13 (LWAI-13)inaUSAdult
Sample
Joshua T. Lambert , William Hart, Danielle E. Wahlers , Braden Hall ,
Charlotte K. Cease , and Peter Castagna
Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA
Abstract: Authoritarianism has been of interest to multiple fields in the social sciences (e.g., psychology, political science). Though
traditionally conceptualized as a right-wing phenomenon, burgeoning research suggests it is also a left-wing phenomenon. The Left-Wing
Authoritarianism Index-13 (LWAI-13) was recently developed as a brief measure of left-wing authoritarianism and its three factors: anti-
hierarchical aggression, top-down censorship, and anti-conventionalism. Though prior work provided evidence for the LWAI-13’s factor
structure and construct validity, its measurement invariance (MI) remains untested. We evaluated the LWAI-13’s MI regarding sex, age, and
education; scalar MI was evidenced for all groupings. Thus, the structural properties of the LWAI-13 appeared robust to the three group
distinctions.
Keywords: age, education, left-wing authoritarianism, measurement invariance, sex
Authoritarianism is characterized by the illiberal push for
socio-political uniformity, deference to authority figures,
moral absolutism, aggression against dissident others, and
dogmatism (Costello et al., 2022). Most psychological and
political literature on authoritarianism has conceptualized
it as a predominantly right-wing phenomenon (i.e., right-
wing authoritarianism, RWA; see Costello et al., 2022).
However, some researchers suggest authoritarianism is
symmetrical among right-wing and left-wing individuals
(Conway et al., 2018) and proffered the existence of left-
wing authoritarianism (LWA), which culminated in the
development of the LWA Index (LWAI; Costello et al.,
2022). The LWAI includes three subscales: anti-hierarchical
aggression, top-down censorship, and anti-conventionalism.
Anti-hierarchical aggression (similar to social-dominance
orientation) refers to beliefs about punishing those in power
and overthrowing the sociopolitical order via extremism.
Top-down censorship (similar to authoritarian submission
and RWA) refers to support for institutional censorship of
dissident opinions (e.g., “offensive”speech). Anti-conven-
tionalism refers to the need for socio-political homogeneity
that includes the rejection of traditional morals and rigid
adherence to progressive ideology. The LWAI demon-
strates good construct validity and is associated with
greater personality dysfunction (e.g., neuroticism), preju-
dice, dogmatism, and indicators of political violence (Cost-
ello et al., 2022; Costello & Patrick, 2023). Authoritarian
regimes in democratic nations are on the rise (Diamond
et al., 2016). Because LWA (like RWA) threatens demo-
cratic values, appropriate measures like the LWAI must
be developed and refined to better understand left-wing
authoritarianism.
Yet, the length of the LWAI (39 items) may be prohibitive
for many social science researchers (Costello & Patrick,
2023). For example, satisficing increases with survey length,
and drop-out rates can reach upwards of 20% for surveys
longer than eight minutes (Chudoba, n.d.). Cognizant of
these issues, Costello and Patrick (2023) developed a
13-item index derived from the LWAI (i.e., 67%reduction
in items). The LWAI-13’s three-factor structure is supported
by multidimensional polytomous IRT models. Furthermore,
the LWAI-13’s global LWA and facet scores appear virtually
indistinguishable from those same scores generated from
Ó2024 Hogrefe Publishing European Journal of Psychological Assessment
https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000870
... White). Some findings from this dataset have been published (Hart et al., 2024a(Hart et al., , 2024b(Hart et al., , 2024c(Hart et al., , 2024dLambert et al., 2024), but the present analyses are novel. ...
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