Análisis psicométrico de la escala de percepción de amenaza exogrupal (EPAE) en una muestra Chilena

The out-group threat is a fundamental variable to understand and predict intergroup relationships and attitudes. The absence of psychometrically suitable instruments in the Chilean context to measure this variable justifies the objective of this study: to analyze the psychometric properties of the Outgroup Threat Perception Scale (OTPS). Participants in the study were 709 people with Chilean nationality (51% male). They answered to a questionnaire on Peruvian (n= 207), Bolivian (n= 236) and Colombian (n= 266) immigrants. The questionnaire included the OTPS, together with other scales and items trying to measure psychosocial variables theoreti- cally related to out-group threat (i.e., intergroup competition, nature of intergroup contact, perceived intergroup similarity and affective prejudice). Different analyzes performed showed good estimates of reliability and indicators of validity of the OTPS. We found a similar internal structure to that obtained in the original study (but with one more dimension) and statistically significant correlations among threat and other psychosocial variables in the theoretically expected direction. These results suggest the OTPS is an instrument with psychometric properties suitable to measure the perception of outgroup threat in Chile.