Development and Exploration of the Experiences With Classism Scale

Abstract

The examination of barriers in relation to college students' vocational choice and development is an important area of research, but the barrier of classism is relatively underexamined. This may be due to the deficiencies in measurement, so we describe herein the development of a new measure, the Experiences with Classism scale (EWCS). The EWCS was developed to extend prior qualitative work that highlighted the need to consider experiences with classism in the lives of undergraduate students. Results provided initial evidence for the usefulness of the EWCS to measure undergraduate students' experiences with classism at a personal and systemic level. Across two studies, the EWCS was demonstrated to have high internal consistency reliability, to have a stable factor structure consisting of two factors, to correlate as expected with relevant demographic variables, and to fit within a nomological network of convergent and discriminant constructs. The EWCS was also demonstrated to predict self-reported experiences of depression, anxiety, stress, self-esteem, and psychological wellness. Implications for further research and practice are suggested.

Social Status Identity: Antecedents and Vocational Outcomes

“…Both subscales correlate as expected with the institutionalized classism and interpersonal classism via discounting subscales of Langhout et al's (2007) Classism Experiences Questionnaire-Academe (Thompson & Subich, 2009). Coefficient alpha for this sample was .95 for EWCS-personal and .85 for EWCS-systemic.…”

“…The EWCS has been demonstrated to have high internal consistency reliability estimates for the personal and systemic subscales (.97 and .84, respectively), to correlate as expected with other indicators of social class including self-identified social class category and self-reported income levels, and to have a stable two-factor structure (Thompson & Subich, 2009). Both subscales correlate as expected with the institutionalized classism and interpersonal classism via discounting subscales of Langhout et al's (2007) Classism Experiences Questionnaire-Academe (Thompson & Subich, 2009).…”

“…The EWCS is a 25-item self-report scale designed to assess the frequency of everyday experiences of reported classist events for college students. The EWCS was constructed to parallel the GED but also included items designed to assess the two types of everyday experiences of classism that were demonstrated to be different from everyday experiences with racism (i.e., experiences with others who were flaunting their higher levels of social class and bureaucratic hassles) in Ritz and Hyers's (2005) qualitative investigation (for a more extensive overview of the development of the EWCS, see Thompson & Subich, 2009). Item responses for the EWCS were made on a 6-point Likert-type scale ranging from the event never happened to the event happened almost all of the time (more than 70% of the time), and subscale scores were summed with higher scores indicating more experiences with classism.…”

“…Experiences With Classism Scale (EWCS; Thompson & Subich, 2009). The EWCS is a 25-item self-report scale designed to assess the frequency of everyday experiences of reported classist events for college students.…”

A grounded theory exploration of undergraduate experiences of vicarious unemployment.

“…Nonetheless, limited data exist that consider VU from a career development perspective among adolescents and young adults (e.g., Bryant, Zvonkovic, & Reynolds, 2006;Cinamon, 2001). Scholars (e.g.. Barling & Mendelson, 1999;Cinamon, 2001;Thompson & Subich, 2013) have argued that factors related to social class and social status, such as job loss, may be particularly relevant during adolescence. Although not yet explicitly examined within the context of VU, other literature (e.g.. Corrigan, 2003;Paulsen & St. John, 2002) has demonstrated that undergraduate students from lower income families face considerable financial challenges related to enrollment and persistence in college; these students are more likely to work full-or part time, take on more student loan debt, and be less engaged in the campus community.…”