Abigail W. Batchelder

The present investigation reports the development and initial validation of the Socioecological Self-Worth (SESW) Scale, a multidimensional self-report measure designed to assess perceived mattering and deservingness through a socioecological lens. Across two studies, undergraduate students (n = 1,556; 36% Latine, 77% women) attending a minority-serving public university in the Western United States completed online surveys that included an initial and refined version of the measure. Confirmatory factor analysis of the final 14-item scale supported a four-factor model, reflecting inherent deservingness, psychological worth, social worth, and material worth. Internal consistencies for total (.93) and subscale scores (.80-.92) were excellent. Model comparisons favored the four-factor model, supporting the interpretation of subscale scores; however, a higher-order model also demonstrated adequate fit, providing preliminary support for use of a total score. The SESW total score was moderately associated with self-esteem and self-compassion, offering initial evidence of construct validity while suggesting that socioecological self-worth is not redundant with existing self-attitude measures. Findings provide preliminary psychometric support for the SESW scale as a measure of felt perceptions of worthiness across inherent, psychological, social, and material domains. The SESW scale may be useful for research examining self-worth in relation to marginalization, resource access, belonging, and mental health.

In stigmatized illnesses such as HIV, shame and other negative self-conscious emotions are associated with sub-optimal engagement in healthcare via stress and avoidance coping. However, shame is challenging to assess via self-report. We employed multimodal measurement to examine whether indicators of shame could predict stress and avoidance coping. Using 319 video-recorded narratives from people recently diagnosed with HIV, we utilized a confirmatory factor analysis on three modalities of shame (self-report, linguistic, and nonverbal postural movement) and connected latent variables to self-reported stress and avoidance coping. Latent self-reported shame was associated with stress and escape-avoidance coping; linguistic shame was associated with stress; postural movements were associated with distancing. Models indicated no second-order factor. Results showed differential associations between measurement modalities of shame, consistent with prior literature on affect measurement, and imply that understanding the connection between shame and healthcare-relevant outcomes necessitates multiple modes of measurement.

Mental disorders among adolescents have reached alarming levels globally, yet most prevention efforts remain locked inside clinical settings. This perspective argues that effective adolescent mental health promotion requires a population-based, multi-sectoral approach that goes beyond diagnosis and treatment. We call for integrating mental health into schools, digital spaces, and community policies – shifting from a reactive clinical model to a proactive public health framework.

People who use drugs face barriers to accessing HIV prevention tools. The status-neutral model for HIV care starts with the HIV test and offers linkage to

Sexual and gender minority women (SMW) and transgender and/or gender-diverse (TGD) people experience high rates of trauma, resulting in mental health disparities such as posttraumatic stress disorder. Nevertheless, contributors to posttraumatic stress symptoms among SMW and TGD people remain underexamined relative to cisgender, heterosexual people. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether stressors uniquely experienced by minoritized populations (e.g., discrimination) contribute to symptoms over and above general stressors (e.g., trauma exposure). The present study used path analysis to test whether discrimination and trauma exposure are associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms through emotion dysregulation, social support, and/or self-efficacy among SMW and TGD people. Trauma-exposed SMW and TGD people ( N = 59) reported trauma and discrimination experiences, emotion dysregulation, social support, self-efficacy, and past-month posttraumatic stress symptoms. Greater discrimination experiences were related to greater posttraumatic stress symptom severity through lower perceived social support, although these indirect effects were no longer significant after controlling for trauma exposure type. Childhood abuse was independently related to greater posttraumatic stress symptom severity, after accounting for discrimination and additional trauma exposures. Findings suggest co-occurring yet unique associations of discrimination and childhood abuse with posttraumatic stress symptoms, supporting theoretical models on dual impacts of minority-specific and general life stressors in mental health outcomes within SMW and TGD people. Future research could examine additional psychosocial constructs that might lead to or exacerbate posttraumatic stress symptoms in response to discrimination and child abuse to inform tailored, trauma-focused interventions for SMW and TGD populations.