Lopez-Vergara Hector Ismael, Rozum William, Charvis Jodi M Sutherland, Iacoi Sydney, Vergara-Lopez Chrystal, Stein L A R
Department of Psychology, The University of Rhode Island, 306 Chafee Hall, 142 Flagg Road Kingston, South Kingstown, RI, 02881, USA.
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2024 Oct 7. doi: 10.1007/s40615-024-02191-x.
Although discrimination is an important social determinant of alcohol involvement, there is a dearth of research testing these associations across race/ethnicity and gender. This is an important research gap given that experiences of discrimination and therefore links with alcohol involvement may vary as a function race/ethnicity and gender intersectional identities. We tested for measurement invariance in discrimination and alcohol involvement and examined group differences in means and covariances. The sample consisted of n = 1187 young adults (ages 18-26; n = 193 Black women, n = 209 Latina women, n = 186 White women, n = 198 Black men, n = 203 Latino men, and n = 198 White men). We found evidence for differential item functioning for discrimination and alcohol involvement that violated assumptions needed to make manifest between-group comparisons. To model the source and degree of differential item functioning, we used partial measurement invariance and dropped a discrimination item that did not reliably overlap with the latent factor for White women. After accounting for differential item functioning, Black women and men reported the highest discrimination, followed by Latinx women and men, and then White women and men. White women reported the most alcohol involvement, followed by White men, Latina women, Latino men, Black men, and Black women. Discrimination and alcohol involvement were positively associated for all groups except White women, though effect sizes varied with Black men exhibiting the largest effect. An intersectionally valid understanding of discrimination and alcohol involvement may necessitate statistical approaches that can test for (and model) differential item functioning prior to making between-group quantitative comparisons.
尽管歧视是饮酒行为的一个重要社会决定因素,但缺乏跨种族/族裔和性别的研究来检验这些关联。鉴于歧视经历以及因此与饮酒行为的联系可能因种族/族裔和性别交叉身份而异,这是一个重要的研究空白。我们测试了歧视和饮酒行为的测量不变性,并检查了均值和协方差的组间差异。样本包括n = 1187名年轻人(年龄在18 - 26岁之间;n = 193名黑人女性,n = 209名拉丁裔女性,n = 186名白人女性,n = 198名黑人男性,n = 203名拉丁裔男性,以及n = 198名白人男性)。我们发现歧视和饮酒行为存在项目功能差异的证据,这违反了进行组间比较所需的假设。为了模拟项目功能差异的来源和程度,我们使用了部分测量不变性,并删除了一个与白人女性潜在因素没有可靠重叠的歧视项目。在考虑项目功能差异后,黑人女性和男性报告的歧视程度最高,其次是拉丁裔女性和男性,然后是白人女性和男性。白人女性报告的饮酒行为最多,其次是白人男性、拉丁裔女性、拉丁裔男性、黑人男性和黑人女性。除白人女性外,所有群体的歧视和饮酒行为都呈正相关,尽管效应大小有所不同,其中黑人男性的效应最大。对歧视和饮酒行为进行交叉有效的理解可能需要采用能够在进行组间定量比较之前测试(并建模)项目功能差异的统计方法。