Assessing Attitudes Towards Hate Crime: Adaptation and Validation of the Hate Crime Beliefs Scale

Authors

  • Rowenia Bender Orcid
    Center for Criminological Research Saxony, Chemnitz, Germany; Department of Social Psychology, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, Germany
  • Deliah Wagner Orcid
    Center for Criminological Research Saxony, Chemnitz, Germany
  • Frank Asbrock Orcid
    Center for Criminological Research Saxony, Chemnitz, Germany; Department of Social Psychology, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, Germany

Abstract

A robust measure of hate crime-related attitudes is crucial to exploring the reciprocal relationship between hate crime and attitudes within society. Building on previous versions of the Hate Crime Beliefs Scale (HCBS), developed and validated in the U.S. (Cabeldue et al., 2018; Kehn et al., 2023) and the U.K. (Bacon et al., 2021), we created the HCBS-Universal (HCBS-U) in German and English, designed to be context-independent by omitting references to specific target groups and contexts. The HCBS-U was validated in three pre-registered studies. Study 1 (German sample, Nt1 = 581; Nt2 = 300) confirmed the three-factor structure and convergent validity and demonstrated strict measurement invariance across time. Study 2 (German sample, N = 3,000) replicated the three-factor structure and convergent validity. Study 3 (U.S. sample, N = 593) validated the English HCBS-U and supported scalar invariance across countries. Results affirm the HCBS-U as a reliable tool for assessing hate crime attitudes in diverse contexts.