Development and Validation of a Five-Item Male Role Norms Inventory Using Bifactor Modeling

Measures of traditional masculinity ideology (TMI) provide important information related to men�s well-being. However, most TMI measures are too long to be included in large public health, psychological, or medical survey batteries. Drawing on previous bifactor analyses of the Male Role Norms Inventory�Short Form (MRNI-SF), structural equation modeling (SEM) identified five items with variance primarily explained by a TMI general factor. These items formed the Male Role Norms Inventory�Very Brief (MRNI-VB), a unidimensional measure of the same TMI general factor captured by the MRNI-SF bifactor model. Several analyses were completed determining that the MRNI-VB performed as well as the original MRNI-SF. First, the unidimensional MRNI-VB evidenced equivalent fit to the bifactor MRNI-SF model in an archival sample of college and community men and women (n = 6,744). Second, the MRNI-VB yielded statistically similar standardized beta coefficients to the MRNI-SF TMI general factor across 32 out of 38 regressions predicting variables within and outside of the MRNI nomological network in published (n = 484) and unpublished (n = 1,537) MRNI-SF research of college and community men. Third, in an unpublished sample of undergraduates who filled out the MRNI-VB instead of the entire MRNI-SF (n = 365), the MRNI-VB yielded good model fit, good internal consistency reliability, and demonstrated a similar pattern of measurement invariance between men and women as the MRNI-SF. Overall, findings suggest that the MRNI-VB captures the same general TMI factor as the MRNI-SF but with a fraction of the items. Future directions, limitations, and implications are discussed.