Subscale choice does not alter symbolic racism’s effect on racial policy even after controls.

Evidence

To pursue the point further, we tested the effects of the two subscales adding the controls ordinarily used to test the effects of symbolic racism (for example, see Hughes 1997; Sears et al. 1997). Again, the two subscales have very similar effects, by several criteria. First, as shown in Table 3, when the two variants are entered separately in different models, their coefficients on the composite racial policy scales are almost identical, averaging . for the structural subscale and . for the individual subscale. When entered simultaneously in a single equation, they also have nearly identical effects on the composite policy scales, averaging . and .34, respectively. — Christopher Tarman and David O. Sears, The Conceptualization and Measurement…, 96

Categorization

• XREF: This strengthens the reader’s case that symbolic-racism scores tap a coherent construct rather than being hostage to which variant is measured — relevant to whether threat perception is measured distinctly from the political attitudes it predicts.

Related

• Symbolic racism scales measure a construct distinct from the policy preferences they predict. (similarity 0.89)
• Symbolic racism scales measure a distinct attitude rather than mere conservatism (similarity 0.87)
• Symbolic racism explains racial policy preferences independent of conservatism. (similarity 0.87)
• Distinct consequences indicate whether symbolic-racism variants are truly separate constructs. (similarity 0.85)
• Symbolic racism’s discriminant validity from allied constructs is empirically testable (similarity 0.84)
• Controversy over symbolic racism measures is empirically moot since all variants predict equally. (similarity 0.84)
• Response biases fail to explain symbolic racism’s predictive findings (similarity 0.84)
• Symbolic racism measurement is internally coherent and unified. (similarity 0.83)
• Symbolic racism scales may measure opposition to big government, not racial attitudes. (similarity 0.82)
• Symbolic racism should outweigh both older racism and race-neutral values in shaping policy views (similarity 0.82)
• Some symbolic racism items overlap tautologically with the policy attitudes they predict (similarity 0.82)
• Symbolic racism may decompose into separate attitude factors rather than one coherent belief system (similarity 0.82)
• Social desirability bias does not inflate symbolic racism’s link to policy views (similarity 0.82)
• Different racism constructs predict political outcomes unequally (similarity 0.82)
• Antiblack affect is a consistent, stable engine of symbolic racism across studies (similarity 0.81)