Validation of the Detroit Area Study Discrimination Scale in a community sample of older African American adults: the Pittsburgh healthy heart project

Abstract

This study examined the construct validity of the Detroit Area Study Discrimination Questionnaire (DAS-DQ) in 49 healthy African American adults, with respect to its association with global measures and daily experiences of psychological demand. Daily experiences of psychological demand were obtained using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods. Everyday Mistreatment, as measured by the DAS-DQ, was significantly related to global reports of perceived stress and depression but was unrelated to measures of hostility and social desirability. Everyday Mistreatment was significantly related to average EMA score measures of Negative Affect and Social Conflict but was unrelated to daily experiences of Task Demand or Decisional Control. Negative Affect mediated the relation between Everyday Mistreatment and global reports of perceived stress. In contrast, Lifetime History of Discrimination, as measured by the DAS-DQ, was unrelated to global measures or daily experiences of stress. Thus, this study lends support to the construct validity of the DAS-DQ.