Work

Measuring sexual minority stressors in lesbian women’s daily lives: Initial scale development.

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: age=24.3 years, range: 19-30 years) completed a daily web-based survey including the SMS items for 12 days. Two response scales were tested; participants were randomized to receive a 3-point (for brevity) or 7-point (for precision) scale for the first 6 days and the other response scale for the remaining 6 days to counterbalance order. Findings suggest the 7-point scale was optimal because it provided greater variability. To reduce scale length, item correlations were examined to identify clusters and one item was retained from each cluster, reducing the scale to 18 items. Then, using HLM, null models with each item as the outcome were conducted to examine level-1 and level-2 variances; 8-, 10-, 12-, and 18-item scales were compared to identify the ideal number of items. The 8-item scale had the highest Cronbach's alpha (.85) and the smallest intraclass correlation (ICC; .13), suggesting these 8 items are optimal for capturing within-person variability in young lesbian women's daily SMS experiences. As researchers are increasingly interested in using EMA methods, this 8-item measure can assess SMS in lesbian women's everyday lives.

Source: Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity

DOI: 10.1037/sgd0000287

Authors: Kristin E. Heron, Abby L. Braitman, Robin J. Lewis, Alexander T. Shappie, Phoebe T. Hitson

Institution: Old Dominion University

Language: English

Topic: LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Gender equality

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism