Measuring Vulnerability to Stereotype Threat

Introduction: In this study, we examined the psychometric properties of an instrument intended to measure vulnerability to stereotype threat. Method: We revised the instrument through assessing score reliability and then examined a domain specific model using confirmatory factor analyses. After examining the responses of the total sample consisting of mainly freshmen and sophomores (N = 414) at a large, public research-intensive university in the Southwestern United States, we attempted to establish configural and metric factorial invariance with gender as our grouping variable. Results: The revised domain specific version of the scale does not appear to consistently measure vulnerability to stereotype threat across gender. Discussion and Conclusion: These results suggest that this measure should be used with caution for across gender comparisons. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)