Social dominance orientation in children: The validation of the long and short version of the child SDO6 scale

We aimed to validate a long and a short version of the popular SDO6 scale for children, by testing their reliability and factorial structure, as well as divergent and criterion validity. Italian fourth- and fifth-graders (N = 271; 49.45% female) were administered the Child SDO6 scale, composed of 16 items, along with a series of personality and intergroup relations measures (using foreigners as the minority group). Paralleling results obtained with adults, findings concerning the short version provided evidence for a two-factorial structure, consisting of an SDO-Dominance and an SDO-Anti-egalitarianism dimension. Both for the long and the short version, greater levels of SDO-Dominance and SDO-Anti-egalitarianism were associated with more neuroticism, attitudinal and stereotypic bias, and with less agreeableness, openness to experience, dispositional and intergroup empathy. In conclusions, the two SDO dimensions as assessed by the short Child SDO6 Scale may be relevant variables to consider when testing intergroup relations processes among children.