FOBism Unveiled: Quantifying Assimilative Racism within Asians in the United States

Abstract

FOB (fresh-off-the-boat) is a term used to refer to unassimilated immigrants or sojourners, which has created a divide within the Asian community. In this study, we coined the term FOBism, a form of internalized racism (or appropriated racial oppression) that intersects with assimilation, and we developed a measure of FOBism. We created a 14-item, 3-factor FOBism Scale and evaluated its psychometric properties among a sample of 296 Asians in the United States. Exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) was utilized to select items and evaluate the factorial validity. Results yielded a strong factor structure, internal consistency reliability, and construct validity. Construct validity was demonstrated through FOBism scores’ positive correlations with measures of within-group discrimination and internalized racism, and negative associations with an Asian cultural orientation. The FOBism Scale is a promising measure that could be used as an assessment tool and to raise awareness of the phenomenon.

Keywords

• Asian American
• internalized racism
• FOB
• scale development
• psychometric evaluation