The Russian Version of the Regional Identity Scale

Abstract

In the context of globalization and growing interregional migration, regional identity is one of the essential factors that socio-psychological research should consider. Nevertheless, a Russian-language scale of regional identity is absent. This study proposes a Russian version of the Regional Identity Scale by R. Asún, C. Zúñiga, and J.-F. Morales. It includes four subscales that characterize various dimensions of regional identity: a sense of belonging to a region, identification with the territory, its culture, and population. We tested the scale with a survey of 1027 respondents in eleven regions of Russia (average age M = 33.7, SD = 14.02, 78% are women). The confirmatory factor analysis verifies the four-factor structure of the scale with the presence of a common regional identity factor. The reliability of the aggregated scale (Cronbach's α = 0.94) and individual subscales (0.78—0.88) is high. The validity is confirmed by: a significant correlation with the indicator of regional identity; moderate association with indicators of Russian and universal (all humanity) identities measured by the Identification with All Humanity Scale by S. McFarland; as well as significant correlations with indicators of civic identity assessed using the relevant scale by S. Roccas. Following expectations, we found that regional identity depends on age, place of birth (in this or another region), and the region of residence (when controlling for age and place of birth). Thus, the proposed questionnaire is a reliable and valid scale suitable for studying the identity of Russian region residents.

Acknowledgments. The study is supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant (project No. 20-18-00336 “Geoconceptology and Regional Identity”).