Psychometric analysis and validity of the Daily Sexual Minority Stressors Scale among young adult same-sex female couples

Abstract

Sexual minority women experience greater health disparities relative to heterosexual women, which is thought to be due to unique stressors related to their sexual identities. Daily diary or momentary assessments may provide a more nuanced approach to understanding how sexual minority stressors relate to health behaviors than cross-sectional studies provide. To date, there is no validated measure to examine daily sexual minority stressors. A recent pilot study developed a brief (8-item) measure for assessing sexual minority stressors in self-identified lesbian or mostly lesbian women (Heron et al., 2018). Although an optimal number of items were generated to best capture the daily experiences of lesbian women, psychometric examination and validation of this new measure is necessary. Using multilevel confirmatory factor analysis among a fully scaled sample of sexual minority women, the present study established that the Daily Sexual Minority Stressors Scale has good model fit as a unidimensional measure (i.e., one factor at each level of analysis). Intraclass correlations indicate the majority of variation (57%) is within person. Additionally, we established convergent and discriminant validity using similar measures (single-item assessment, general stressors, negative affect, history of discrimination, and heterosexism). Finally, criterion validity was supported. At the daily level, experiencing daily sexual minority stressors was associated with a significantly greater likelihood of drinking alcohol that day. Experiencing more daily sexual minority stressors during the study period was significantly associated with a history of harassment and discrimination, victimization, isolation, vigilance, and also with acceptance concerns, difficult processes, and internalized homonegativity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Figure 1. Multilevel Confirmatory Factor Analysis of DSMSS

Note. DSMSS = Daily Sexual Minority Stressors Scale. Consistent with multilevel notation, subscripts indicate the value for time t for individual i within couple j.

Figure 2. Factor Loadings and Associated Credible Intervals for Daily Sexual Minority Stressors Scale Items

Note. For each item, loadings are displayed for level 1 (day), level 2 (person), and level 3 (couple). Factor loadings reflect standardized estimates, and 95% credible intervals were generated using Bayesian estimation.