1-101 - Measurement Validation and Equivalence in LGBTQ Youth Research: Examples and Recommendations

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The proliferation of psychometric and measurement testing in the psychological sciences has had a profound effect on field of human development. Measurement work – the validation of empirical measures across groups or time via exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and measurement equivalence testing – is important to for validating the use of survey instruments, but also provides valuable information about how experiences may differ across groups or developmental time (Little, 2017). The use of valid and reliable measures allows researchers to make meaningful policy and intervention recommendations, but also improves our ability to draw decisive conclusions across studies and samples. Measurement work has lagged in the sexual and gender minority youth health and development literature as it feverishly documented critical health disparities between heterosexual, cisgender and LGBTQ youth in the past 15 years. Yet, measurement work is critical to advancing the science of LGBTQ youth development and to draw more formative conclusions from a rapidly growing body of literature. To address these needs, we present four studies that explore the validity, reliability, and equivalence of measures of school climate, family rejection, minority stress, and family environment across groups defined by sexual, gender, and other important identities. The studies presented in this symposium use a variety of population-based and community samples to provide four unique examples of how measurement work can be used to advance the field of LGBTQ youth development. Co-chairs will discuss how the findings provide recommendation for both future research and application for the healthy development of LGBTQ youth.

Sub Unit

• Methods, History, Theory

Chairs

• Jessica N. Fish, University of Maryland College Park

• Stephen T. Russell, University of Texas at Austin

Individual Presentations

• Assessing the Measurement Equivalence of School Climate for LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ Students Using Population-Based Data - Presenting Author: Salvatore Ioverno, University of Texas at Austin; Non-Presenting Author: Melissa A Rodgers, University of Texas

• Being Out Matters for the Measurement Equivalence of Family Acceptance and Rejection among LGBTQ+ Youth - Presenting Author: Amanda M Pollitt, University of Texas at Austin; Non-Presenting Author: Jessica N. Fish, University of Maryland College Park; Non-Presenting Author: Ryan J Watson, University of Connecticut

• Evaluating Measurement Invariance of Racial Discrimination and Coming out Stress in a Sample of Diverse Sexual Minority Youth - Presenting Author: Allen Mallory, University of Texas at Austin; Non-Presenting Author: Stephen T. Russell, University of Texas at Austin

• Measurement of Family Gender Environment (FGE) in Transgender and Cisgender Young and Middle Adolescents and Their Parents - Presenting Author: Jenifer McGuire, University of Minnesota; Non-Presenting Author: S Okrey Anderson, University of Minnesota; Non-Presenting Author: Catherine Schaefer, The Pennsylvania State University; Non-Presenting Author: Jennifer Connor, University of Minnesota; Non-Presenting Author: Dianne R Berg, University of Minnesota