Development and Preliminary Validation of the Sexual Minority Adolescent Stress Inventory - Short Form (SMASI-SF)

This study developed a comprehensive short form of the Sexual Minority Adolescent Stress Inventory (SMASI-SF) that preserves its strong psychometric properties and relationships with key mental and behavioral health outcomes. Split-sampling was used to construct independent development (Sample A; n = 1,155) and validation (Sample B; n = 1,155) samples from a national cohort of 2,310 sexual minority adolescents aged 14-17. Short-form candidate items were identified based on the strength of item-level associations with health outcome measures using Sample A. Candidate items were retained if they were associated (d ≥ .20) with seven or more outcomes from Sample A, with no more than two items from each SMASI subscale. Omega coefficients assessed reliability, and health outcomes from Sample B were regressed onto short-form scores to verify criterion validity. The 15-item SMASI-SF demonstrated excellent scale reliabilities in both Sample A (ω = .89) and Sample B (ω = .88). The SMASI-SF was significantly associated with depressive, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, and general stress symptoms; suicidality (ideation, attempt, and self-harm); and past-30-day alcohol, tobacco, and prescription drug misuse in the validation sample. The SMASI-SF represents the first comprehensive short-form minority stress measure validated for use with sexual minority adolescents. Researchers may benefit from including the SMASI-SF in a survey instrument battery to improve predictive modeling and advance our understanding of the influence of minority stress experiences on outcomes for sexual minority youth.