A Swedish Adaptation of the Belief in Genetic Determinism Scale: Validity, Reliability, and Item Reduction

Many studies fielded worldwide have used the Belief in Genetic Determinism (BGD) scale, or shorter versions, to measure a latent dimension called genetic essentialism. This paper presents a Swedish adaptation of this scale, offers validity and reliability assessments, and examines if item reduction affects quality indicators. Approximately 8,000 adult Swedish respondents completed the scale in an online three-wave survey. Results reveal high internal consistency in the full sample and among sociodemographic subgroups, high test-retest reliability, and consistent relationships with related variables. Additionally, the item-reduction procedure suggests that investigators could measure genetic essentialism using shorter versions of the BGD scale without significantly impacting validity and reliability indicators. Future works should evaluate the generalisability of this original finding. Meanwhile, this paper offers evidence that a Swedish translation of the BGD scale is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing genetic essentialism among Swedish-speaking participants.