Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Gender, Sex and Sexualities
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1385410

Development and Initial Validation of the Implicit Internalized Sexual Orientation Stigma Affect Misattribution Procedure (Internal-SOS-AMP)

Provisionally accepted
William J. Hall William J. Hall 1*Hayden C Dawes Hayden C Dawes 2Jason W Hannay Jason W Hannay 3Denise Yookong Williams Denise Yookong Williams 1Joseph Frey Joseph Frey 4Ankur Srivastava Ankur Srivastava 1Mimi V Chapman Mimi V Chapman 1Ding-Geng Chen Ding-Geng Chen 5Amy Blank Wilson Amy Blank Wilson 1Magdelene Ramon Magdelene Ramon 1B. Keith Payne B. Keith Payne 1
  • 1 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States
  • 2 Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States
  • 3 University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States
  • 4 University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, United States
  • 5 Arizona State University West campus, Phoenix, Arizona, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This article describes the development and initial validation of a measure of implicit internalized stigma among queer people, the Implicit Internalized Sexual Orientation Stigma Affect Misattribution Procedure (Internal-SOS-AMP), a computer-administered sequential priming procedure. The creation of the Internal-SOS-AMP involved a mixed-methods approach, including a literature review, expert interviews, stimuli selection and pilot testing, data collection from a large sample, reliability testing, correlational analyses, and confirmatory factor analysis. Psychometric testing was conducted with a national sample of 500 queer adults who completed two waves of data collection. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate two models: a one-factor model with internalized stigma specified as one overall construct and a two-factor model with internalized stigma specified as two constructs based on binary conceptions of gender (stigma regarding queer women and stigma regarding queer men). Results showed that the two-factor model best fit the data. This indicates that although implicit attitudes toward queer men and women are highly correlated, implicit internalized stigma differentiated by two gender stimuli groups (men and women) more accurately reflects the data. There was evidence of convergent validity as Internal-SOS-AMP scores showed small positive associations with explicit internalized stigma. Regarding divergent validity, Internal-SOS-AMP scores were inversely related to affirmation of a queer identity. Reliability results for the Internal-SOS-AMP showed good internal consistency and acceptable test-retest reliability. The creation of the Internal-SOS-AMP used best practices for measurement development. Psychometric findings show strong evidence of content validity, convergent validity, divergent validity, and reliability of the Internal-SOS-AMP.

    Keywords: implicit attitudes, Implicit measure, Internalized stigma, internalized homophobia, internalized oppression, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual

    Received: 12 Feb 2024; Accepted: 13 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hall, Dawes, Hannay, Williams, Frey, Srivastava, Chapman, Chen, Wilson, Ramon and Payne. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: William J. Hall, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.