Measurement invariance of the Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale for racism among a national sample of college students.

Objective

Racial trauma is increasingly recognized as a distinct, consequential source of psychological harm. However, most existing measurements that seek to capture experiences of racism focus on event frequency rather than responses. The Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale (TSDS; Williams, Printz, & DeLapp, 2018) is one of few measures designed to assess distress symptoms related to racism. However, the invariance of the TSDS across identity groups (e.g., race/ethnicity and gender) has not yet been thoroughly evaluated. This article directly addresses that gap by assessing the TSDS's dimensionality and measurement invariance using nationally representative data from 5,527 racially and ethnically diverse college students (ages 18-25; Mage = 20.57) who participated in the 2023-2024 Healthy Minds Study.

Method

Confirmatory factor analysis and multigroup measurement invariance testing are used to evaluate the factor structure, measurement invariance, and latent mean differences of the TSDS across key demographic characteristics: race/ethnicity, gender identity, international student status, and year in school.

Results

The TSDS met full scalar invariance across all demographic categories tested. Latent mean comparisons revealed significant differences across groups. Notably, gender-diverse students reported significantly higher racial trauma symptoms compared to men and women, women had higher symptoms than men, and Black and Middle Eastern students reported the highest levels of racial trauma symptoms.

Conclusion

Results suggest that the TSDS can be confidently used as a unidimensional measure in diverse populations and that differences in racial trauma symptoms across groups likely reflect true, meaningful disparities in experiences and mental health consequences of racism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).