Constructing a Scale to Measure Sexual Racism Experienced by Men of Color Who Have Sex With Men

Public Significance Statement This study found that experiencing race/ethnicity-based discrimination (including fetishization) for men of color who have sex with men is related to their experiences of depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness, alcohol/drug use problems, and risky sexual behavior. Further, the study also suggests that experienced sexual racism is a unique predictor of negative emotional states, over and above general experiences of racism. Sexual racism has been linked to various negative health outcomes for men of color who have sex with men (MCSM). This article describes a sequence of two studies focused on creation of a scale measuring sexual racism, following established test construction methods in the field of psychology, and informed by intersectionality theory. We first defined the construct and created 52 items to measure sexual racism and subjected these to expert and target sample review. We next conducted an exploratory factor analysis (EFA, Study 1) where we administered the constructed items to a sample of MCSM (N = 397). Based on EFA results, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis, convergent and incremental validity analyses (Study 2) with a unique sample of MCSM (N = 455). We obtained an eight-factor scale that correlated in expected directions with constructs including general racism, depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness, alcohol and drug problems, and risky sexual behavior. Further, through hierarchical regression analyses we found that experiences of sexual racism predicted depression, anxiety, and stress over and above experiences of general racism. Of note, the factor measuring White supremacy in intimate contexts was uniquely predictive of depression scores. We discuss how experienced sexual racism can impact MCSM and future directions research can take to improve overall well-being for this population.