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The development and initial validation of the White Fragility Scale
Kimberly J Langrehr1, Laurel B Watson1, Alexa Keramidas1
1The Division of Counseling and Counseling Psychology, University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Abstract:
Over the last couple of years, the topic of White fragility has garnered a considerable degree of attention. White fragility is considered a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress can become intolerable and trigger a range of emotional and behavioral reactions intended to restore a sense of racial comfort (DiAngelo, White fragility: Why it's so hard for White people to talk about racism, 2018, Beacon Press). In effort to measure the expression of White fragility, we developed and evaluated the psychometric properties of the 21-item White Fragility Scale (WFS). Data consisted of two independent samples of White participants recruited from M-Turk (327) and a Midwest University's Psychpool (234). Results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence for a bifactor model consisting of one general White fragility factor and three specific factors of Emotional Defensiveness, Accommodation of Safety, and Exceptionism. Ancillary bifactor indices supported treating the WFS as a unidimensional measure of White fragility yet also revealed meaningful utility of the Accommodation of Safety subscale. Concurrent validity evidence for the WFS was established through significant associations with modern racism, general and specific dimensions of colorblind racial attitudes, and social dominance orientation. In addition, nonsignificant, near-zero correlations with social desirability provided support for divergent validity. Recommendations for future research involving the WFS are provided as well as practical implications for professionals whose work requires a certain degree of racial stamina. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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