+Psychosocial Costs of Racism to Whites (PCRW) Scale

Spanierman & Heppner (2004)

Topic: Diversity-Related Beliefs

Instructions:

Please rate your level of agreement with the following items on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree).

Response Options:  

  1. Strongly disagree
  2. Disagree
  3. Somewhat disagree
  4. Somewhat agree
  5. Agree
  6. Strongly agree

Items:

Factor 1: White Empathic Reactions Toward Racism

    1. I am angry that racism exists.
    2. I become sad when I think about racial injustice,
    3. It disturbs me when people express racist views,
    4. When I hear about acts of racial violence, I become angry or depressed.
    5. Racism is dehumanizing to people of all races, including Whites.
    6. I feel helpless about not being able to eliminate racism.

Factor 2: White Guilt

    1. Being White makes me feel personally responsible for racism.
    2. I never feel ashamed about being White. (*R - indicates a reverse-scored item)
    3. Sometimes I feel guilty about being White.
    4. I am afraid that I abuse my power and privilege as a White person.
    5. I feel good about being White. (*R)

Factor 3: White Fear of Others

    1. I often find myself fearful of people of other races.
    2. I am distrustful of people of other races.
    3. I have very few friends of other races.
    4. I feel safe in most neighborhoods, regardless of racial composition. (*R)
    5. I am fearful that the racial minority populations are rapidly increasing in the U.S. and my group will no longer be the numerical majority.

Citation:

Spanierman, L., & Heppner, M. (2004). Psychosocial Costs of Racism to Whites Scale (PCRW): Construction and Initial Validation. Journal of Counseling Psychology - J COUNS PSYCHOL, 51, 249–262. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.51.2.249 Links to an external site.

Link to PDF:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lisa_Spanierman/publication/247408866_Psychosocial_Costs_of_Racism_to_Whites_Scale_PCRW_Construction_and_Initial_Validation/links/0f3175366bca1132d3000000.pdf Links to an external site.

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