Perceived islamophobia: Scale development and validation

“Islamophobia” has been used as an umbrella term capturing different types of religious
stigma towards Muslims. However, the operationalization of the term for research purposes
varies greatly, where little attention heretofore has been paid on how islamophobia
affects Muslim minorities’ lives. Against this background, we aimed to develop and validate
the Perceived Islamophobia Scale (PIS). In the first study (167 German-Arabs, 184 GermanTurks
and 205 British-Pakistanis), exploratory factor analyses of a preliminary item pool
gave support of a three-factor scale in all samples. Subscales were computed for each factor
(i.e., perceptions of a general fear of Islam and Muslims, fear of islamization, and islamophobia
in the media), which were reliable across the samples. In all samples, the PIS was
positively related to psychological distress and in two samples this relation remained significant,
after controlling for experiences of discrimination. In Study 2 (262 German-Turks,
277 French-Maghrebis and 249 British-Pakistanis), confirmatory factor analyses supported
the structural equivalence ofthe scale’s three-factor solution. The PIS was positively related
to perceived stress and discrimination. Lastly, PIS predicted higher levels of religious and
ethnic identification, controlling for discrimination. The PIS seems to be a valid and reliable
measure across differentMuslimminority groups. The factthat perceptions ofislamophobia
in two samples negatively predicted psychological distress after controlling for experiences
of discrimination, suggests that anti-discrimination laws may be insufficient in protecting
Muslim minorities of the negative effects of stigma on psychological well-being