Assessing beliefs and attitudes toward gender norms in higher education: Psychometric validation of the Gender Norm Attitudes Scale and Gender Equitable Men Scale in Ghana

Background This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Gender Norm Attitudes Scale (GNAS) and the Gender Equitable Men (GEM) Scale to measure students' beliefs and attitudes toward gender norms in higher education in Ghana. Methods A cross-sectional design was employed to collect data from a stratified sample of 631 students pursuing degree programmes in Sociology and Social Work from two public universities in Ghana. We adapted the GNAS, which consists of 14 items, to measure beliefs about male and female gender norms regarding the promotion of equity for women and girls, as well as the maintenance of rights and privileges for men. For the GEM Scale, we adapted the 24 items of the inequitable subscale to measure attitudes toward gender norms in four domains: violence, sexual relationships, reproductive health and disease prevention, and domestic chores and daily life. We obtained data through the in-class self-administration of questionnaires, which occurred before or after class hours. We conducted exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and reliability testing to examine the dimensionality and internal consistency of the scales using SPSS version 20. Results The exploratory factor analysis confirmed the two subscale dimensions of the GNAS: maintaining the rights and privileges of men, which included 9 items and accounted for 32.32% of the variation, and the equity for girls and women subscale, which also included 3 items and accounted for 17.58%. The internal consistency coefficient of the overall scale was 0.78, with Cronbach's alpha values of 0.81 and 0.82 for the two subscales, respectively. For the GEM Scale, the EFA revealed a four-domain structure, with 20 items remaining, which explained 46.59% of the variation in the students’ responses. The scale's dimensions included violence, sexual relationships, reproductive health and disease prevention, as well as domestic chores and daily life, with an overall alpha of 0.80. The test-retest reliability for the two scales yielded a Pearson correlation of 0.86, confirming the scales' stability. Conclusion The GNAS and GEM Scale are valid and reliable for assessing gender norm beliefs and attitudes among university students in Ghana. Their application can provide nuanced data to inform research, policy, and gender equity programming.