title: Validation of the Sexual Orientation Microaggression Inventory in Two Diverse Samples of LGBTQ Youth.
abstract: Critical race theory asserts that microaggressions, or low-level, covert acts of aggression, are commonplace in the lives of people of color. These theorists also assert a taxonomy of microaggressions, which includes "microassaults," "microinsults," and "microinvalidations". The theory of microaggressions has been adopted by researchers of LGBTQ communities. This study investigated the three-factor taxonomy as it relates to a diverse sample of LGBTQ youth using the newly developed Sexual Orientation Microaggression Inventory (SOMI). Exploratory factor analysis was used to determine the number of factors that exist in SOMI in a sample of 206 LGBTQ-identifying youth. Follow up confirmatory factor analyses were conducted in order to compare single-factor, unrestricted four-factor, second-order, and bi-factor models in a separate sample of 363 young men who have sex with men. The best fitting model was used to predict victimization, depressive symptoms, and depression diagnosis in order to test validity. The best fitting model was a bi-factor model utilizing 19 of the original 26 items with a general factor and four specific factors representing anti-gay attitudes ("microinsults"), denial of homosexuality, heterosexism ("microinvalidations"), and societal disapproval ("microassaults"). Reliability analyses found that the majority of reliable variance was accounted for by the general factor. The general factor was a significant predictor of victimization and depressive symptoms, as well as unrelated to social desirability, suggesting convergent, criterion-related, and discriminant validity. SOMI emerged as a scale with evidence of validity for assessing exposure to microaggressions in a diverse sample of LGBTQ youth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 625 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2700, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Swann
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 625 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2700, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Reese
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Minshew
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 625 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2700, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Newcomb
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 625 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2700, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA. brian@northwestern.edu.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mustanski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D058445:Bullying; D003863:Depression; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000072339:Sexual and Gender Minorities / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Discrimination; Internalizing; LGBTQ; Microaggression; Sexual orientation; Victimization