Testing for Measurement Invariance in the Conformity to Masculine Norms-46 Across White and Asian American College Men: Development and Validity of the CMNI-29

The Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI; Mahalik et al., 2003) and revised CMNI-46 (Parent & Moradi, 2009) have received a great deal of empirical attention and support for their strong psychometric properties and evidence of construct validity. However, one important area that remains unexplored is how adherence to these masculine norms may vary across race and ethnicity. The current investigation examines the possible racial measurement noninvariance in the CMNI-46 among Asian American and White American college students (N = 893). The results revealed significant measurement differences across groups; specifically, the CMNI-46 was more theoretically consistent for the White American men than the Asian American men. Through exploratory and multigroup confirmatory factor analysis, an 8-factor, 29-item version of the CMNI emerged, displaying an excellent overall model fit for both racial groups. This study provides strong evidence for the use of a streamlined 29-item version of the CMNI, validated with Asian American and White American men. The findings also lend further empirical and psychometric evidence regarding the variance of masculine norms among ethnic groups as well as the variance of the multidimensional construct of masculinity.