LGBTQ Microaggressions and Microaffirmations in Families (Sterzing & Gartner, 2020)
- Populations: LGBTQ Adolescents
- Age ranges: 14-19
- Languages: English
- Countries: United States
Items
Subscales
- Family-level Interpersonal Microaggression: 9 Items
- Environmental Microaggression: 7 Items
- Family-level Intepersonal Microaffirmations: 7
- Environmental Microaffirmations: 6 items
Items by Subscale
Environmental Microaffirmation
- How often has a member of your family said positive and supportive things about LGBTQ people?
- How often has a member of your family treated LGBTQ people with respect?
- How often has a member of your family encouraged others to be accepting of LGBTQ people?
- How open is a member of your family to learning about the LGBTQ community?*
- How supportive is a member of your family towards same-sex marriage?*
- How often has a member of your family stopped others from using negative LGBTQ words (e.g., that’s so gay, fag, dyke, he/she, tranny)?
Family-level Interpersonal Microaffirmation
- How often has a member of your family welcomed your LGBTQ friends to your home, family events, or activities?
- How often has a member of your family said supportive things about your sexual orientation or gender identity?
- How loving and caring was a member of your family after learning about your sexual orientation or gender identity?*
- How often has a member of your family stood up for you when you’ve been mistreated because of your sexual orientation or gender identity?
- How often has a member of your family encouraged others to be respectful of your sexual orientation or gender identity?
- IP06 How often has a member of your family knowingly taken you to an LGBTQ youth organization or event?
- How welcoming has a member of your family been to your LGBTQ dating partner?*
Environmental Microaggression
- How often has a member of your family said being LGBTQ is a choice that can be changed?
- How often has a member of your family made offensive comments about LGBTQ people?
- How often has a member of your family said or implied that being LGBTQ is a sin?
- How often has a member of your family said negative comments about same-sex marriage?
- How often has a member of your family said or implied that being LGBTQ is the result of something that went “wrong” during someone’s childhood (e.g., bad parenting, childhood sexual abuse)?
- How often has a member of your family said or implied that LGBTQ people are overly sexual?
- How often has a member of your family said or implied LGBTQ people are “sick?”
Family-level Interpersonal Microaggression
- How often has a member of your family said or implied that your sexual orientation or gender identity was “just a phase?”
- How often has a member of your family said or implied that you should not tell others about your sexual orientation or gender identity?
- How negative or rejecting was a member of your family after learning about your sexual orientation or gender identity?*
- How often has a member of your family asked you to dress or act more masculine or more feminine because of your sexual orientation or gender identity?
- How often has a member of your family said or implied you were being overly sensitive for thinking you were being treated poorly because of your sexual orientation or gender identity?
- How often has a member of your family called you mean names like “fag,” “he/she,” “tranny,” or “dyke”?
- How often has a member of your family made offensive comments about your sexual orientation or gender identity without realizing they were being offensive?
- How often has a member of your family acted as if you are straight or identify with your assigned birth sex even after telling them about your sexual orientation or gender identity?
- How often has a member of your family changed the topic of conversation when your sexual orientation or gender identity comes up?
Responses
Items used a 5 point Likert-type scale, 0 = never, 1= rarely, 2= occasionally, 3= frequently, 4= all the time
Four items used alternative responses: 0 = not at all, 1= a little bit, 2= somewhat, 3= quite a bit, 4= extremely
Scoring
“Subscale scores are calculated by averaging all items in that scale. Higher average scores suggest experiencing more interpersonal or environmental microaggressions or microaffirmations” (Sterzing & Gartner, 2020)
Citations
Paul R. Sterzing & Rachel E. Gartner (2020) LGBTQ Microaggressions and Microaffirmations in Families: Scale Development and Validation Study, Journal of Homosexuality, 67:5, 600-619, DOI: 10.1080/00918369.2018.1553350
Scoring breakdown
Measure development
- Significant design input from young people
- Cognitive interviews with young people
- Expert input
Validity
- Green: Face validity
- Green: Convergent validity
- Green: Construct validity
Reliability
- Green: Internal consistency
- Unknown: Test-retest
Ease of use
- Unknown: Readability
Definitions
Face validity: How well a measure appears to represent the construct it is supposed to be measuring.
Convergent validity: How well a measure correlates with other hypothetically-related measures.
Construct validity: The extent to which a measure reflects the construct it was designed to evaluate.
Internal consistency: The extent to which items in a scale capture aspects of the same construct.
Test-retest: The degree to which measurement scores are consistent over a short period of time (usually 2 weeks).
Readability: The ease with which a reader can understand the questionnaire items.
Key
- Green: Meets validation criteria
- Red: Does not meet validation criteria
- Unknown: Evidence not available
