'Strangers in Their Own Land': Development and Validation of a Balanced, Unidimensional Scale to Measure the Sense of Threat to Local Traditions

In recent decades, individuals and communities all over the world have experienced drastic and rapid societal changes due to economic, social, cultural and political cross-national interconnections. At present, a convincing scale measuring people’s perception of threat deriving from these societal changes is not available. In this study, we have developed and validated the Sense of Threat to Local Traditions (SETLOT) Scale with a quota sample of 1,548 Italian adults. The SETLOT Scale is composed of six 4-category items and is balanced against response set. After correcting for the acquiescent response set, the scale is unidimensional and has a good convergent validity. Strengths and limitations of this study and possible uses of the SETLOT Scale are discussed.