Testing Invariance of Ethnic-Racial Discrimination and Identity Measures for Adolescents Across Ethnic-Racial Groups and Contexts

• Published in: Psychological assessment 2020-06, Vol.32 (6), p.509-526
• Main Authors: Sladek, Michael R., Umaña-Taylor, Adriana J., McDermott, Elana R., Rivas-Drake, Deborah, Martinez-Fuentes, Stefanie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent Development; Asians; Black People; Convergent Validity; Discrimination; Ethnic Identity; Factor Structure; Female; Human; Indigenous Populations; Latinos/Latinas; Male; Measurement; Measurement Invariance; Minority & ethnic groups; Race and Ethnic Discrimination; Racial and Ethnic Groups; Racial discrimination; Racial Identity; Teenagers; White People
• ISSN: 1040-3590; 1939-134X
• DOI: 10.1037/pas0000805

Ethnic-racial discrimination experiences, ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development, and attitudes toward other ethnic-racial group contact all make important contributions to individuals' health and well-being. Absent from the literature is systematic examination of whether these constructs may be measured equivalently for adolescents from different ethnic-racial groups living in different contexts. In 2 large ethno-racially diverse samples of high school students in the Southwestern (N = 2,136) and Midwestern (N = 1,055) United States, the current study tested invariance of 4 widely used measures, including Adolescent Discrimination Distress Index (Fisher, Wallace, & Fenton, 2000), Ethnic Identity Scale-Brief (Douglass & Umaña-Taylor, 2015), Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity-Teen (Scottham, Sellers, & Nguyên, 2008), and Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure-Other Group Orientation (Phinney, 1992). Results from multigroup confirmatory factor analyses supported configural and metric but not scalar invariance across Asian, Black, Latinx, Native, and White American adolescents, and across geographic regions for Asian, Black, and White American adolescents. Results demonstrate the utility of these measures to examine whether associations with theoretically related constructs differ across groups and regions, but specific items preclude mean-level group difference tests for certain groups. Supporting convergent validity across ethno-racially diverse adolescents in 2 regions, scores on ethnic-racial discrimination from peers, adults in school, and other adults in society were each positively associated with depressive symptoms; ERI exploration, resolution, affirmation, centrality, and public regard scores were each positively associated with self-esteem; and other group orientation scores were positively associated with ERI achievement. Public Significance Statement This study examined whether widely used measures of ethnic-racial discrimination and ethnic-racial identity (ERI) were equivalent (i.e., assessed similar constructs) for adolescents from different ethnic-racial groups and for adolescents from the same groups across different geographic regions. Results indicated measures assessed similar components of these constructs and can be used to test associations with other constructs for Asian, Black, Latinx, Native, and White American adolescents in the Midwestern and Southwestern United States, but some item-response levels were nonequivalent acros