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Psychometric Advancements in the Measurement of Sexual and Gender Minority Health

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Mental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 10879

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Todd G. Morrison

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Guest Editor

Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A2, Canada
Interests: psychometrics; queer psychology; body image; media studies

Dr. CJ Bishop

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Guest Editor

Psychology Program, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Corner Brook, NL A2H 5G4, Canada
Interests: stereotyping; prejudice and discrimination; psychometrics; LGBTQ2S+ psychology; human sexuality (relationships; pornography; variations of sex work)
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Research focusing on the health and wellbeing of sexual and gender minorities has grown appreciably over the past decade. However, psychometric limitations remain problematic, with instruments designed for cisgender heterosexual individuals often being (mis)applied to members of the LGBTQ2S+ community. This Special Issue of IJERPH will include papers that 1) detail cutting-edge advances in the measurement of health-related variables pertinent to sexual and gender minorities; 2) evaluate the psychometric integrity of scales that, while not originally designed for LGBTQ2S+ populations, have been distributed to these groups; 3) offer best-practice recommendations for scale development and psychometric testing; and 4) provide strategies to help researchers avoid selecting problematic and otherwise substandard instruments.

Dr. Todd G. Morrison
Dr. Cj Bishop
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

psychometrics
health
queer
LGBTQ2S+
psychology
resiliency
anxiety
depression
stress
coping

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 676 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development and Validation of the Military Minority Stress Scale

by Jeremy T. Goldbach, Sheree M. Schrager, Mary Rose Mamey, Cary Klemmer, Ian W. Holloway and Carl A. Castro

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(12), 6184; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20126184 - 20 Jun 2023

Viewed by 1304

Abstract

Despite affecting nearly 3% of active-duty service members, little is known about how LGBT-related stress experiences may relate to health outcomes. Thus, the present study sought to create a Military Minority Stress Scale and assess its initial reliability and construct validity in a cross-sectional study of active-duty LGBT service members (N = 248). Associations between 47 candidate items and health outcomes of interest were analyzed to retain those with substantial betas. Item response theory analyzes, reliability testing, invariance testing, and exploratory factor analysis were performed. Construct validity of the final measure was assessed through associations between the sum score of the final measure and the health outcomes. The final 13-item measure demonstrated an excellent reliability (ω = 0.95). Bivariate linear regressions showed significant associations between the sum score of the measure and overall health (β = −0.26, p < 0.001), overall mental health (β = −0.34, p < 0.001), physical health (β = 0.45, p < 0.001), life satisfaction (β = −0.24, p < 0.001), anxiety (β = 0.34, p < 0.001), depressive symptoms (β = 0.37, p < 0.001), suicidality (β = 0.26, p < 0.001), and PTSD (β = 0.42, p < 0.001), respectively. This study provides the first evidence that minority stressors in the military setting can be operationalized and measured. They appear to have a role in the health of LGBT service members and may explain the continued health disparities experienced by this population. Little is known regarding the experiences of LGBT active-duty service members, including experiences of discrimination. Understanding these experiences and their associated health outcomes during military service may therefore help and guide further etiological studies and intervention development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychometric Advancements in the Measurement of Sexual and Gender Minority Health)

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11 pages, 987 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Survey Nonresponse in Measuring Cardiometabolic Health Risk Factors and Outcomes among Sexual Minority Populations: A National Data Linkage Analysis

by Neeru Gupta and Samuel R. Cookson

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(7), 5346; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20075346 - 31 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1453

Abstract

Understanding cardiometabolic health among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people is challenged by methodological constraints, as most studies are either based on nonprobability samples or assume that missing values in population-based samples occur at random. Linking multiple years of nationally representative surveys, hospital records, and geocoded data, we analyzed selection biases and health disparities by self-identified sexual orientation in Canada. The results from 202,560 survey respondents of working age identified 2.6% as LGB, 96.4% as heterosexual, and <1.0% with nonresponse to the sexual identity question. Those who did not disclose their sexual identity were older, less highly educated, less often working for pay, and less often residing in rural and remote communities; they also had a diagnosed cardiometabolic condition or experienced a cardiometabolic-related hospitalization more often. Among those reporting their sexual identity, LGB individuals were younger, more likely to smoke tobacco or drink alcohol regularly, more likely to have heart disease, and less likely to have a regular medical provider than heterosexual persons. This investigation highlighted the potential of leveraging linked population datasets to advance measurements of sexual minority health disparities. Our findings indicated that population health survey questions on sexual identity are not generally problematic, but cautioned that those who prefer not to state their sexual identity should neither be routinely omitted from analysis nor assumed to have been randomly distributed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychometric Advancements in the Measurement of Sexual and Gender Minority Health)

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20 pages, 2313 KiB

Open AccessArticle

by Yan Shen, Ci Zhang, Lloyd A. Goldsamt, Wenwen Peng, Run Wang and Xianhong Li

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(6), 4779; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20064779 - 8 Mar 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4074

Abstract

Condom-related stigma is a frequently mentioned barrier to consistent condom use among men who have sex with men (MSM). Based on the concept and operational definition of condom-related stigma recently defined by our team, we developed the 20-item condom-related stigma scale (CRSS) and examined its psychometric properties among 433 MSM in China, following DeVellis’s scale development guidelines. The content validity, convergent validity, empirical validity, factorial validity, scale score reliability, split-half reliability, and test–retest reliability for the CRSS were all assessed. The scale consists of four domains: perceived distrust, perceived potential HIV/STI risk, perceived embarrassment, and perceived violation of the traditional understanding of sexual intercourse. The CRSS has good validity (the scale-level content validity index was 0.99; the empirical validity was greater than 0.70) and high reliability (the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient overall was 0.926; the split-half reliability overall was 0.795; the test–retest reliability overall was 0.950). This scale is recommended for assessing the level of condom-related stigma among Chinese MSM, which can serve as an evaluating indicator for safer-sex interventions to prevent HIV infection among the MSM population in a Chinese cultural context. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychometric Advancements in the Measurement of Sexual and Gender Minority Health)

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13 pages, 391 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Psychometric Evaluation of Three Versions of the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Full, Eight-Item, and Three-Item Versions) among Sexual Minority Men in Taiwan

by Chung-Ying Lin, Ching-Shu Tsai, Chia-Wei Fan, Mark D. Griffiths, Chih-Cheng Chang, Cheng-Fang Yen and Amir H. Pakpour

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(13), 8095; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19138095 - 1 Jul 2022

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3347

Abstract

The UCLA Loneliness Scale, with different short versions, is widely used to assess levels of loneliness. However, whether the scale is valid in assessing loneliness among sexual-minority men is unknown. Additionally, it is unclear whether the 8-item and 3-item short versions are comparable to the full 20-item version. The present study compared the validity of the three versions of the UCLA Loneliness Scale (i.e., 20-item, 8-item, and 3-item versions) among gay and bisexual men in Taiwan. The participants comprised 400 gay and bisexual men in Taiwan who completed a cross-sectional online survey, which included the UCLA Loneliness Scale, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate factorial validity. Convergent validity was examined between the three versions of the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the CES-D and STAI. Known-group validity was investigated with participants’ sexual orientation and educational levels. The unidimensional construct was supported in all three versions of the UCLA Loneliness Scale tested in the present study. Convergent validity was supported as the level of loneliness was correlated with the level of depression and anxiety for all three versions. There were no significant differences between gay and bisexual men, although significant differences were found across different educational levels. The study confirmed that all three versions of the UCLA Loneliness Scale were comparable with satisfactory reliability and validity in Taiwanese sexual-minority men. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychometric Advancements in the Measurement of Sexual and Gender Minority Health)

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