Measuring Cultural Exploration: Development of the Reculturative Activities Scale for Adopted Individuals

Transracially and transnationally adopted individuals lose their birth culture as they assimilate to the culture of their adoptive families. As adults, adopted individuals often seek out information, experiences, and community related to their birth culture, a process known as reculturation (Baden et al.). While research lends support for reculturation as a process, work examining the psychological processes associated with reculturation has been limited by the absence of an easy to use measure. Therefore, we developed a new measure of reculturation—the reculturative activities scale. Working with a sample of adult adopted individuals (n = 226), we examined the scale’s psychometric properties. Exploratory factor analysis indicated a three-factor solution, with dimensions of experiential education (α =.90), birth culture immersion (α =.71), and adoptee socialization (α =.76). We provide preliminary evidence for validity. We conclude with discussion of research applications.