Measurement Repository

The Cultural Practices of Māori in Advanced Age Questionnaire is a subscale of the broader Life and Living in Advanced Age: a Cohort Study in New Zealand (LiLACS NZ), also known as Te Puāwaitanga o Nga Tapuwae Kia ora Tonu. Developed through kōrero (discussion groups) with kaumātua and guided by a Kaupapa Māori methodology, the subscale assesses engagement in Māori cultural practices, cultural identity, and related experiences among Māori in advanced age. Items address frequency of marae visits, fluency and use of te reo Māori (language), understanding of tikanga (cultural practices), roles within whānau, hapū, and iwi, satisfaction with cultural responsibilities, use of traditional foods, connection with hapū and rohe, and the importance of nature and the outdoors. Some questions were adapted from the Te Hoe Nuku Roa scale of Māori cultural identity. Additional items explore experiences of discrimination in health and social services.

The Life Events and Changes measures capture a wide range of significant events that may have occurred in a participant’s life over a recent time period. The youth version asks about both positive and negative experiences over the past six months, including school transitions, family changes, achievements, losses, and conflicts. The adult version covers a broader scope of events over the past 12 months, such as relationship changes, employment shifts, health issues, experiences of loss, and community or cultural recognition. Items are designed to reflect both challenges and strengths, and the measure can be used to track exposure to life stressors, identify sources of resilience, and support contextual understanding of participants’ well-being. Separate subscale scores can be created for positive and negative life events.

The Lickan-Antay Scale of Cultural Involvement (ICLA10) is a 10-item self-report measure developed to assess cultural involvement as a determinant of wellbeing among the Lickan-Antay, an Indigenous Andean people of northern Chile. It evaluates participation in traditional practices such as ceremonies, festivities, and communal activities (e.g., flowering of cattle, canal cleaning, and celebration of the Indigenous New Year). The scale was developed using a sequential mixed-methods process that included qualitative input from community members, cultural expert review, and psychometric validation.

The Loneliness measure is a 6-item scale adapted from the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, designed to assess subjective feelings of social isolation and disconnection. Participants rate how often they experience sentiments such as having no one to talk to, feeling misunderstood or left out, and experiencing complete aloneness. Items are rated on a 4-point Likert scale from “Never” to “Always,” with an additional Don’t Know/Refuse to Answer option. This measure captures core elements of perceived emotional isolation and unmet relational needs. Scores can be used to identify individuals experiencing high levels of loneliness, monitor changes over time, and inform mental health and community support interventions.

The Māori Cultural Embeddedness Scale (MaCES) is a self-report measure designed to assess the extent to which Māori individuals are embedded in their cultural values, beliefs, and practices, reflecting the idea that Māori identity is not only based on whakapapa (ancestry) but also on engagement with cultural knowledge, customs, and worldviews. An earlier version of the measure was developed for Māori adolescents and included 16 items covering te reo Māori competency and attitudes, whānau connectedness, Māori peer connectedness, and cultural awareness; this version supported a single-factor structure, demonstrated strong reliability, and showed that cultural embeddedness predicted improvements in adaptive coping and wellbeing across adolescence (Fox, Neha, & Jose, 2018). Building on this foundation, a more comprehensive adult measure was later developed through literature review, qualitative exploration, and collaboration with Māori elders and community leaders; the initial pool of 49 items was refined to a 43-item measure following confirmatory factor analysis, capturing three interconnected domains of Māori cultural embeddedness: Values (e.g., Whakapapa, Whanaungatanga, Manaakitanga, Kaitiakitanga, Mahi Rangatira), Beliefs (Wairuatanga, Pūrakau), and Practices (Tikanga and comfort in cultural practice) (Fox, Johnson, Winter, & Jose, 2023). The MaCES provides researchers and practitioners with a structured tool to assess cultural connectedness and its associations with wellbeing, coping, and identity.

The Māori Cultural Identity Scale (MCIS) was developed to measure cultural identity among Māori youth in New Zealand, drawing from the Youth’12 National Health and Wellbeing Survey. The measure includes 14 items that reflect two broad cultural domains: 1) Ngā Taonga Māori (Precious Māori Cultural Resources), and 2) Ko wai au? (Personal Ethnic Identity). The MCIS provides a composite measure of strength of cultural identity, which has been associated with positive health and wellbeing outcomes.

The Maternal Beverage Intake (BEVQ-15) is a brief questionnaire adapted from the original Beverage Intake Questionnaire (BEVQ-15) developed by Hedrick et al. (2012) to assess habitual beverage consumption patterns and beverage-related energy intake. The original BEVQ-15 is a 15-item, self-administered, quantitative food frequency questionnaire designed to measure how often and how much of various beverages (including water, milk, sugar-sweetened beverages, diet drinks, and alcohol) are consumed over the past month. It was created as a shorter, lower-literacy alternative to the BEVQ-19 and validated for rapid assessment of total beverage and sugar-sweetened beverage intake in adults. The version included in this repository is an adapted measure used within the Family Spirit Nurture (FSN) and Family Spirit Strengths (FSS) programs to examine beverage intake among mothers and primary caregivers of young children in Indigenous communities.

The 5-item Mentor’s Cultural Support Index was developed to understand psychosociocultural aspects of the mentoring relationship. These items were informed by and adapted from research on the role of family and culture for AI/AN persistence in higher education and measured mentor’s/advisor’s cultural and social support.

The Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF) is a 14-item self-report questionnaire designed to measure positive mental health across three domains: emotional well-being, psychological well-being, and social well-being. Each item assesses the frequency of specific positive mental health experiences over the past month using a 6-point Likert scale. The MHC-SF captures how often individuals feel happy, function effectively in personal life, and engage positively in community life.

The Religiosity and Spirituality Scale is a 4-item measure extracted from the larger Midlife Development Inventory (MIDI), which was originally developed for use in the general population. It asks participants about the importance of religion and spirituality in their daily lives, including how important religion/spirituality is personally, how often participants engage in religious or spiritual practice, the importance of children’s participation in religious or spiritual activities, and whether participants seek comfort or guidance through religious or spiritual means. While the MIDI items were adapted and considered somewhat acceptable by American Indian focus groups, community members expressed that they did not fully capture Indigenous perspectives on spirituality. In response, researchers and tribal partners collaborated to develop a separate 8-item Tribal Cultural Spirituality Measure, which reflects beliefs and practices more specific to American Indian populations.

The Multicultural Mastery or Communal Mastery Scale is designed to assess perceived mastery, or a sense of personal and collective control. Items ask participants to rate agreement with statements such as “Working together with people close to me, I can overcome most of the problems I have.” Responses are scored on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”, with higher summed scores indicating greater communal mastery. This measure was developed to reflect collectivist cultural values and the role of social connectedness in coping and resilience.

The Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale (MAPS) is a 34-item parent-report measure designed to assess a broad range of parenting behaviors. Parents rate how well each item describes their behavior with their child over the past two months using a 5-point Likert scale from “Never” to “Always.” MAPS evaluates both positive and negative dimensions of parenting through seven subscales: Proactive Parenting, Positive Reinforcement, Warmth, Supportiveness, Hostility, Lax Control, and Physical Control. These subscales contribute to two overarching domains (Broadband Positive Parenting and Broadband Negative Parenting), offering a comprehensive profile of parenting practices. The scale captures both supportive and disciplinary strategies used by caregivers and is intended to reflect day-to-day parenting in diverse family contexts.