Development of the Sexual Minority Adolescent Stress Inventory

Abstract

Although construct measurement is critical to explanatory research and intervention efforts, rigorous measure development remains a notable challenge. For example, though the primary theoretical model for understanding health disparities among sexual minority (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual) adolescents is minority stress theory, nearly all published studies of this population rely on minority stress measures with poor psychometric properties and development procedures. In response, we developed the Sexual Minority Adolescent Stress Inventory (SMASI) with N = 346 diverse adolescents ages 14–17, using a comprehensive approach to de novo measure development designed to produce a measure with desirable psychometric properties. After exploratory factor analysis on 102 candidate items informed by a modified Delphi process, we applied item response theory techniques to the remaining 72 items. Discrimination and difficulty parameters and item characteristic curves were estimated overall, within each of 12 initially derived factors, and across demographic subgroups. Two items were removed for excessive discrimination and three were removed following reliability analysis. The measure demonstrated configural and scalar invariance for gender and age; a three-item factor was excluded for demonstrating substantial differences by sexual identity and race/ethnicity. The final 64-item measure comprised 11 subscales and demonstrated excellent overall (α = 0.98), subscale (α range 0.75–0.96), and test–retest (scale r > 0.99; subscale r range 0.89–0.99) reliabilities. Subscales represented a mix of proximal and distal stressors, including domains of internalized homonegativity, identity management, intersectionality, and negative expectancies (proximal) and social marginalization, family rejection, homonegative climate, homonegative communication, negative disclosure experiences, religion, and work domains (distal). Thus, the SMASI development process illustrates a method to incorporate information from multiple sources, including item response theory models, to guide item selection in building a psychometrically sound measure. We posit that similar methods can be used to improve construct measurement across all areas of psychological research, particularly in areas where a strong theoretical framework exists but existing measures are limited.

Psychometric properties of the adolescent stress questionnaire-short form scores and association with self-efficacy

“…It is noteworthy that, for the assessment of stress in some minority adolescent populations, longer scales are still being developed in order to assess the more nuanced dimensions of stress that are specific to those populations. For example, Scragher et al [24] recently developed the 54-item, 10-factor Sexual Minority Adolescent Stress Inventory. Therefore, for those wishing to assess stress in more specific populations and contexts, the ASQ described herein may not be the inventory best suited to their needs.…”

Confirming the Reliability and Validity of the Sexual Minority Adolescent Stress Inventory in a National Sample of Sexual Minority Adolescents

“…For analytic purposes, sexual identity was categorized as gay, lesbian, bisexual or pansexual, or queer. To be consistent with the population for which the SMASI was developed (Schrager et al, 2018), recognizing that minority stress is fundamentally a theory of stigmatized same-sex attracted identity, youth who identified as another sexual identity (e.g., "asexual") or did not express a particular identity (e.g., "questioning") were not included in the present analyses. As noted, only cisgender individuals were eligible for participation, which was coded as 0 (female) and 1 (male) for analysis.…”

“…The SMASI (Schrager et al, 2018) is a comprehensive 64item measure that includes 10 main subscales composed of 54 items that can be answered by all sexual minority youth (e.g., "I have heard a family member make negative comments about LGBTQ people"; "Other students make fun of me for being LGBTQ") and an optional work subscale with 10 additional items assessing experiences at work among adolescents who have ever been employed (e.g., "My workplace does not protect LGBTQ employees"). Subscales of the main 54item measure include social marginalization (8 items); family rejection (11 items); internalized homonegativity (7 items); identity management (3 items); homonegative climate (4 items); intersectionality (3 items); negative disclosure experiences (5 items); religion (5 items); negative expectancies (3 items); and homonegative communication (5 items).…”

“…The first comprehensive measure of minority stress designed for use with adolescents, the Sexual Minority Adolescent Stress Inventory (SMASI), was recently developed (Schrager et al, 2018) and validated (Goldbach et al, 2017b) with a small sample of primarily single-state participants (N = 346). Consistent with minority stress theory, the measure includes subscales that represent both proximal and distal stressors.…”

Methodological Considerations for Advancing Research on the Health and Wellbeing of Sexual and Gender Minority Youth

“…Across population characteristics and outcomes, the dearth of available research on representative samples of SGM youth broadly and disaggregated subgroups has resulted in the proliferation of unvalidated measures with poor psychometric performance, 79 particularly related to victimization, homophobic attitudes, and other aspects of gender and sexual minority stress. 80 Although some validated measures are emerging, 81,82 we caution researchers that qualitative research, cognitive testing, and validity and reliability studies may still be required 83 -especially when a measure is directly relevant to gender or sexual identity, as the terminology used in older measures may not be sufficiently sensitive or reflective of modern youth experience. 48 Of course, measure selection for research with SGM youth should also be informed by measurement considerations relevant to the general population of adolescents, such as literacy, developmental appropriateness, and survey fatigue.…”