Cultural competence/Intercultural Adjustment Potential Scale

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Matsumoto, D., LeRoux, J. A., Ratzlaff, C., Tatani, H., Uchida, H., Kim, C., & Araki, S. (2001). [1] created the ICAPS item scale for assessing intercultural adjustment potential.

The 55 item ICAPS includes four subscales: Emotion Regulation (ER), Openness (OP), Flexibility (FL), and Critical Thinking (CT).

It uses 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree)


Most important items of the ICAPS-55

Item   Factor   Item
number loading
		Factor 1—Emotional regulation

9	−0.736	I do not worry very much
10	−0.720	I rarely feel anxious or fearful
11	0.571	I often worry about things that might go wrong
33	−0.345	I feel happy most of the time
36	0.292	I get angry easily
4	0.23	Being in tense emotional situations scares me
13	0.225	I usually feel lower than others
15	0.206	If I have done something wrong I want to hide from other people
26	−0.198	People should not care what other people do

		Factor 2—Openness

44	−0.546	I have tried to write poetry
19	0.49	Watching ballet or modern dance performances is boring
53	−0.467	I like to wonder about the origins of the universe
23	−0.454	Smells remind me of old memories
5	0.452	When I see someone being treated unfairly<comma> I sometimes don’t care much
21	−0.427	I like haiku poems
37	0.318	I hardly ever get excited

		Factor 3—Flexibility

55	0.736	I think women should have as much sexual freedom as men
54	0.723	Sex education is a good thing
2	0.527	I would not object to my husband or wife having friends of the opposite sex
37	−0.255	I hardly ever get excited
39	−0.217	I am a traditional person
12	−0.207	I don’t get much pleasure from talking with people

		Factor 4—Creativity

8	−0.696	Spanking a child is the best way to teach them
41	−0.676	The trouble with children nowadays is their parents don’t punish them enough
46	−0.398	My parents were always strict with me
39	−0.249	I am a traditional person
30	0.23	Sometimes I rearrange my room just to make it different
44	0.223	I have tried to write poetry
18	0.208	The average citizen can influence governmental decisions


  1. Matsumoto, D., LeRoux, J. A., Ratzlaff, C., Tatani, H., Uchida, H., Kim, C., & Araki, S. (2001). Development and validation of a measure of intercultural adjustment potential in Japanese sojourners: The Intercultural Adjustment Potential Scale (ICAPS). International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 25, 483-510. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147176701000190