SOCIAL INVALIDATION: AN INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT STUDY

Abstract

Social invalidation, the denial of an individual’s racial identity, is a pervasive racial stressor with harmful effects on the mental health and well-being of Multiracial individuals; however, a sufficient measure of this construct has yet to developed. The purpose of this study was to create a psychometrically sound measure to assess social invalidation for use with Multiracial individuals. Four studies were conducted to assess the measure’s psychometric properties with a total of 497 Multiracial adults. Exploratory factor analysis revealed four Social Invalidation factors: Identity Rejection, Phenotype Invalidation, Behavior Invalidation, and Identity Incongruent Discrimination. A confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the initial factor structure. The validity and reliability of the measure, along with its limitations, suggestions for future research, and implications are discussed.