Development and Validation of the Sexual Minority and Religious Identity Integration (SMRII) Scale

ABSTRACT

Despite the psychosocial strain of homonegative religious attitudes, many people with minoritized sexual identities also hold religious identities and benefit from integrating their sexual minority and religious identities. However, for research and clinical practice to advance, a reliable and valid measure of sexual and religious identity integration is needed. The present study reports on the development and validation of the Sexual Minority and Religious Identity Integration (SMRII) Scale. Participants were comprised of two subsamples for whom sexual and religious identity is particularly salient (Latter-day Saints and Muslims) as well as a third subsample of the general sexual minority population—totaling 1,424 individuals (39% POC, 62% cisman, 27% ciswoman, 11% trans/non-binary/genderqueer). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the 5-item scale measures a single unidimensional construct. This scale demonstrated good internal consistency in the total sample (α = .80) as well as metric and scalar invariance along relevant demographics. The SMRII also evidenced strong convergent and discriminant validity, significantly correlating with other measures of religious and sexual minority identity typically between r = .2 and r = .5. Taken together, initial findings indicate that the SMRII is a psychometrically sound measure that is brief enough to be utilized in research and clinical settings.

Public Significance Statement: This article introduces the Sexual Minority and Religious Identity Integration Scale (SMRII) as a reliable and valid assessment of the degree to which individuals integrate their sexual minority and religious identities. This five-item measure is brief enough to be utilized in both research and clinical settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Religion
• sexual minority
• LGBTQ
• identity integration

Acknowledgment

We extend our gratitude to the individuals who participated in this study as well Michael Moore, Ph.D. for his insightful review of an earlier version of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

All study materials, data, and analytic code are available by request to the lead author. Neither the data collection nor the analysis was preregistered.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Sexual and religious identity integration was measured using a single item on a 7-point Likert scale “Think about your sexual identity, how much has your religious tradition or spiritual practice been a negative or positive influence for you in coming to terms with your LGBT identity?”

2. Sexual and religious identity integration was measured by an adapted version of the Bicultural Identity Scale (Huynh, 2009).

3. Sexual and religious identity integration was measured by a hierarchical cluster and MANCOVA analyses.

4. Sexual and religious identity integration was primarily measured with two questions: “Have there been times when you have been able to be both openly religious and openly LGBTQ at the same time?” and “To what extent have you combined your sexual orientation and religious beliefs.” Participants then identified factors that have aided their identity integration and described changes made to their religious participation.

5. Sexual and religious identity integrated participants were defined as those who endorsed an LGBTQ identity, reported the LDS Church as the church most frequently attended, and who reported scores of 4 or 5 on the question regarding level of disclosure with religious associates.

6. Sexual and religious identity integration was measured with a qualitative coding 3-point Likert scale and a subsequent dichotomous scale of integrated and not fully integrated.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.