Measurement invariance of the Perceived Classism Experiences Scale across race, gender, and social class groups

This is the first study to explore the factor structure and measurement invariance of the Perceived Classism Experiences Scale (PCES; Cavalhieri & Chwalisz, 2020), across race (Black, Latine, and White), gender (women, men), and social class (lower, middle, and upper) groups. Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses were run in a sample of adults (N = 1,182), with increasingly stringent model comparisons to test configural, metric, and scalar measurement invariance. Bifactor ancillary estimates provided evidence for the multidimensionality of the PCES. Invariance tests indicate that PCES's items were interpreted similarly across race, gender, and social class groups, as scalar invariance was held on all three analyses. Scores can be meaningfully compared across these groups. As a scale of classist distress that is not restricted to academic settings and focuses on personal experiences of classism opposed to personally held classist ideologies, the PCES is a great option for researchers and practitioners as a theory-driven scale with strong psychometric evidence of measurement invariance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).