The Psychological Sense of Economic Hardship: Measurement Models, Validity, and Cross-Ethnic Equivalence for Urban Families

Authors: Barrera M.¹; Caples H.²; Tein J-Y.²

Source: American Journal of Community Psychology, Volume 29, Number 3, June 2001 , pp. 493-517(25)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Poverty is a community stressor that disproportionally affects ethnic minority families. One aspect of programmatic research on poverty focuses on the psychological sense of economic hardship. In a study of 319 African American, European American, and Mexican American urban families, parents completed objective measures of economic status and scales of perceived economic hardship that were adapted from previous research. Measurement models identified a coherent construct of psychological sense of economic hardship that was essentially equivalent for mothers and fathers, English- and Spanish-speaking Mexican Americans, and the 3 ethnic groups. In support of the validity of this construct, relations between objective indicators of economic status and perceived economic hardship showed equivalence across these same groups.

Keywords: economic hardship; ethnic minorities; assessment

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: Arizona State University, Arizona; manuel.barrera@asu.edu 2: Arizona State University, Arizona

Publication date: 2001-06-01