ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Quantitative Psychology and Measurement
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1627540
Psychometric Study and Validation of an Abbreviated Version of the Left-Wing Authoritarianism Scale (LWA-9) in Chilean University Students
Provisionally accepted
Gustavo Troncoso-Tejada1,2
José Luis Gálvez Nieto3*
Ignacio Norambuena-Paredes2,3
Miguel Galván-Cabello3David González Casas4- 1Departamento de Educación, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile
- 2Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile
- 3Departamento de Trabajo Social, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile
- 4Departamento de Trabajo Social y Servicios Sociales, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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Left-wing authoritarianism is a multidimensional construct that is gaining increasing interest. This study evaluated the validity and reliability of three versions of the Left-Wing Authoritarianism Scale (LWA) among Chilean university students and proposed a shortened 9-item version (LWA-9), which significantly reduces the instrument's length and facilitates its use in applied contexts. A nonprobabilistic convenience sampling method was used, involving 415 Chilean university students (69.2% women, 30.1% men, and 0.7% identifying as another gender), aged between 17 and 44 years (M = 20.06; SD = 3.42). Participants completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the LWA scale, the Social Dominance Orientation scale (SDO-7), and the Right-Wing Authoritarianism scale (RWA). ESEM analyses confirmed the three-factor correlated structure across all versions analysed, with the LWA-9 standing out for its better psychometric fit, high factor loadings, robust reliability levels, and factorial invariance by sex up to strict invariance, although it only reached configural invariance by age group. Convergent validity was supported by positive and significant correlations with the dimensions of the SDO-7, while discriminant validity was evidenced by low and nonsignificant correlations with the RWA scale, indicating that the LWA-9 captures a distinct construct. These results support the structural validity of the LWA in all its versions and the empirical utility of the LWA-9 as a brief, efficient, and theoretically sound measure of left-wing authoritarianism.
Keywords: authoritarianism 1, university students 2, Chile3, psychometric study4, left-wing authoritarianism 5
Received: 13 May 2025; Accepted: 08 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Troncoso-Tejada, Gálvez Nieto, Norambuena-Paredes, Galván-Cabello and Casas. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: José Luis Gálvez Nieto, Departamento de Trabajo Social, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile
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