Development and initial validation of the Queer People of Color Identity Affirmation Scale

Despite growing literature on sexual minority (SM; e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, asexual) people of Color (PoC), there is a dearth of research examining positive aspects of SM-PoC identity. This article presents the development and initial validation of the Queer People of Color Identity Affirmation Scale (QPIAS). First, items were developed through interviews with SM-PoC (N = 10) and then pilot-tested (N = 293). We then administered the scale to a second sample of SM-PoC (N = 703), which was randomly divided for exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The final QPIAS consists of 12 items and 2 subscales: Identity-Based Growth and Identity Cohesion. Participant performance on the final QPIAS was compared to other constructs of identity and psychosocial wellbeing to assess convergent validity. As predicted, the QPIAS was significantly positively associated with resilience, empowerment, sexual identity affirmation, and ethnoracial identity affirmation, and negatively associated with depression and sexual and ethnoracial identity conflict. Results also suggest that this scale may be useful in predicting resilience and empowerment beyond existing measures of sexual and ethnoracial identity affirmation. Use of this scale may provide new information on factors contributing to wellbeing in this population and be a beneficial tool in multiculturally competent assessment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).