The African American Historical Loss and Trauma Response Scales: Development and initial psychometric evaluation

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Sociology
• Public Health

Background:

• Racism in the U.S. causes transgenerational trauma for people of African descent.
• Existing research highlights emotional and psychological consequences of race-based traumatic stress.
• A gap exists in quantitative methodologies to understand historical trauma's impact on African Americans.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop psychometrically sound instruments to assess impacts of historical trauma and racism.
• To better understand emotional impacts of historical losses due to enslavement and ongoing racial traumas.
• To provide tools for quantitative research on race-based traumatic stress.

Main Methods:

• Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used to develop two measures: the Historical Loss Scale and the Trauma Response Scale.
• Data collected from two samples (N=467 and N=449) during scale development.
• Construct and incremental validity were examined using additional data.

Main Results:

• The Historical Loss Scale assesses thoughts about racism's historical devastation, including family/community disintegration and modern injustices.
• The Trauma Response Scale evaluates grief, trauma responses, and feelings of empowerment/reclamation.
• The developed scales demonstrated psychometric soundness for quantitative research.

Conclusions:

• The new scales offer valuable tools for researching the psychological impact of historical trauma and racism.
• These instruments can enhance understanding of race-based traumatic stress in African Americans.
• The scales have implications for psychological practice and future research in this area.