Fairness in psychological testing

Abstract Increase in population migration worldwide and greater availability of health-related services has resulted in higher frequency of psychological services for individuals of diverse backgrounds. Unfortunately, this shift has not been matched with parallel psychological knowledge, especially in application to testing. To improve fairness in testing, evaluation of individuals that are not part of a majority culture should take into account both universal and culturally unique psychological characteristics, including cultural relevance of testing process and assessed constructs, culture-appropriate test norms, acculturation and language proficiency, socioeconomic status, and quality of education. Future research should address development of culture-relevant tests and norms, evaluation of ecological validity of currently used tests, cultural significance of factors not yet studied, and education of psychologists on cross-cultural issues in assessment.