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Gender and Generational Differences in the Internalized Homophobia Questionnaire: An Alignment IRT Analysis
Robert E Wickham1, Renee Gutierrez1, Brenna L Giordano1
1Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Assessment
|December 20, 2019
Summary
Internalized homophobia (IH) measurement varies by gender and generation. Older adults (Boomers) showed lower IH, indicating evolving experiences of internalized homophobia among lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Public Health
Background:
- Internalized homophobia (IH) involves negative self-perceptions among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals.
- Sociocultural shifts towards greater acceptance of sexual minorities may alter IH experiences and measurement.
- Assessing IH requires instruments whose measurement properties are invariant across demographic groups.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the measurement invariance of a common self-report IH scale.
- To investigate differential item functioning (DIF) across gender identity (Female, Male) and age cohorts (Boomers, Generation X, Millennials).
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from 3,522 LGB individuals in the United States.
- Employed multigroup item response theory (IRT) and differential item functioning (DIF) analysis with the alignment method.
- Analyzed the Internalized Homophobia Scale for measurement invariance.
Main Results:
- Six of the nine IH Scale items exhibited differential functioning across gender and generation.
- Latent scores from invariant items indicated that Male and Female Boomers had the lowest levels of latent IH compared to other cohorts.
Conclusions:
- The common IH scale is not fully invariant across gender and generational groups.
- Findings suggest IH experiences and their measurement differ significantly by gender and age cohort among LGB individuals.
- Future IH research and clinical assessments should account for these demographic variations.
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