# Investigating the validity and equivalence of the measurement of minority stress in predicting substance use among SGM individuals

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2021 · $100,287

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals have higher rates of substance use, mental health disorders, and
some physical health conditions. A predominant model for understanding the greater rates of these health
conditions among SGM people is the minority stress model, which suggests that increased exposure to enacted
and internalized stigma, expectations of prejudice, and identity concealment place additional stress burden on
SGM people. Unfortunately, the replicability and rigor of this research is threatened by a lack of validity evidence
for the measurement of key minority stress constructs. This is especially problematic for SGM subgroups (e.g.,
asexual, bisexual, pansexual, queer, non-binary, transfeminine, and transmasculine individuals) and across
intersecting identities (e.g., age, race, socioeconomic status, and geographic region) for which the few commonly
used measures that exist to measure minority stress are assumed to generalize without adequate validation and
measurement invariance testing.
This study will address this major methodological gap in SGM health research by establishing validity evidence
and measurement equivalence for 3 commonly used measures of minority stress: The Internalized Homophobia
Scale- Revised (IHS-R), The Nebraska Outness Scale, and the Minority Stress subscales of the Cultural
Assessment of the Risk for Suicide. We will do this by investigating the: convergent and discriminant validity,
measurement invariance across SGM subpopulations and intersecting identities and over time, and predictive
validity of these measures in explaining substance use across these subpopulations and intersecting identities.
This study will lay the groundwork for rigorous and replicable SGM health research.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10332588
- **Project number:** 3R01DA052016-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Annesa Flentje
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $100,287
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-09-30 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10332588

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10332588, Investigating the validity and equivalence of the measurement of minority stress in predicting substance use among SGM individuals (3R01DA052016-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-03 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10332588. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*