Measurement invariance across Korean and English versions of the short almost perfect scale

ABSTRACT The current study addresses the cultural validity of the 8-item Short Almost Perfect Scale (SAPS) by investigating its measurement invariance across the choice of language (i.e. Korean vs. English) with a group of 206 Korean Americans. Given a wide variation in English proficiency among the Korean community, instruments may need to be administered either in Korean or English based on respondents’ preferences, thus ensuring the invariance of the measurement across two languages is critical for clinical and research purposes. The results supported configural invariance and metric invariance for both Discrepancy and Standards subscales. All four Discrepancy intercepts for the Korean version group were higher than those in the English version group, suggesting a systematic tendency for the Korean version group to rate themselves higher on Discrepancy items. The emphasis on self-cultivation in Korean culture may account for higher endorsement of certain SAPS items among individuals who chose the Korean version of the instrument compared to those who chose the English version. Given the support for configural and metric invariance, the two language versions of the SAPS were presumed to assess the same underlying perfectionism constructs and thus could be used interchangeably among Korean Americans.