Attitudes towards gender roles in family: A Rasch-based validation study

Secondary ordinal data collected in Italy (N=1519) from the European Value Survey was used to construct a measure of attitudes towards gender roles in family via the partial credit model.
Validation included exploring fit statistics, item-person maps, and differential item functioning tests. The constructed measure is DIF-free and predominantly unidimensional.
Using this measure showed that male, older and less educated people have slightly more traditional attitudes. People aged 15-29 and 30-49 have similar attitudes but they vary at local level, across macro-geographical areas. The analyses presented in this paper suggest the need to add some more items covering a wider spectrum of attitudes towards gender accounting for the new roles of women in society and thus in family rather than focusing only on the male-breadwinner model. Further reflections about item modifications with phrasing and response format are discussed.