Spanish Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Animal Attitude Scale and the Speciesism Scale

Abstract

This study analyzes the psychometric properties of a Spanish adaptation of two of the most widely used instruments for the measurement of the general attitudes toward animals: Animal Attitude Scale (AAS; there are three versions of 20, 10, and 5 items) and Speciesism Scale (SS). The Spanish adaptation of both scales followed the guidelines of the International Tests Commission and was administered to a sample of 470 participants. The purpose was to estimate the reliability and provide evidence of validity based on the internal structure of the tests and based on the relationship with other variables (type of diet). The estimated reliability revealed good scores, except for the 5 items version of the AAS. For the AAS-10 and SS, the factorial structure agreed with the author’s proposal, but not for the 20 and 5 items version of the AAS. Validity analysis showed favorable evidence in the expected direction. The Spanish adaptation of SS and AAS (for tree versions) shows good psychometric properties. The results pointed out a better performance in the 10 items version of the AAS based on test length and psychometric properties (reliability and validity).