Conceptualization and measurement of Islamophobia: A systematic review

Abstract

The term Islamophobia is used in research studies; however, it is evident many researchers do not similarly use the term and, subsequently, measure the construct. We evaluate measures based upon their alignment with one first definition of Islamophobia that includes: (1) a perceived fear or threat of Islam/Muslims and (2) an engagement in prejudicial attitudes and/or discriminatory actions. We conducted a systematic literature search of 15 databases to identify Islamophobia-related measures used in the literature from 1992 to 2018 (updated 2022). The measures were reviewed to examine alignment with the definition of Islamophobia and their psychometric properties. We identified 12 validated measures of Islamophobia and provided an in-depth review of each measure. Additionally, we cataloged the 249 validated and nonvalidated measures of Islamophobia (N = 24), and the five remaining content areas - prejudicial attitudes (N = 80), discriminatory actions (N = 21), fear of Muslims (N = 23), anti-other group (N = 52), and experiences of discrimination for Muslims (N = 49) by validity, measure structure, and other criteria (Tables 1–12). This systematic review can assist researchers in identifying and selecting the most reliable and valid measure related to their definition of Islamophobia.