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Psychometric Properties of the Spanish Version of the Homophobic Content Agent Target Scale Among Adolescent Students

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Abstract

This study examined the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Spanish version of the Homophobic Content Agent Target (HCAT) scale in a sample of 1848 high school students. Participants completed an online survey including measures of homophobic bullying, depression, and anxiety. The factor structure showed adequate fit indices in Spanish adolescents similar to the original scale. An exploratory factor analysis showed a simple factor solution of two related factors strongly correlated describing the extent to which students use homophobic language (agent) and the extent to which students are called homophobic epithets (target) due to sexual orientation. The Spanish HCAT scale showed high Cronbach’s alpha coefficient at the subscale score levels, as well as good convergent validity. This study contributes a Spanish-language validated measure of homophobic victimization to be used among adolescents. Implications for understanding homophobic bullying in adolescents are discussed.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Vicerrectorado de Investigación y Transferencia de Conocimiento para el fomendo de la I+D+I Universidad de Alicante. Grant number: GRE-16-32.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Psychology, University of Alicante, Campus de San Vicente del Raspeig s/n, 03690, Alicante, Spain

    Miriam Sánchez-SanSegundo, Natalia Albaladejo-Blazquez, Rosario Ferrer-Cascales & Nicolas Ruiz-Robledillo

  2. Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

    Erin Smith & Paul B. Perrin

Authors
  1. Miriam Sánchez-SanSegundo
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  2. Erin Smith
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  3. Natalia Albaladejo-Blazquez
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  4. Rosario Ferrer-Cascales
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  5. Nicolas Ruiz-Robledillo
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  6. Paul B. Perrin
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Correspondence to Natalia Albaladejo-Blazquez.

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This study was approved by institutional and/or national research committee and was conducted in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. All procedures performed in the present study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Alicante and the Educational Directive Committee from Schools involved in the study (Ref Number: UA2015-1013).

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Sánchez-SanSegundo, M., Smith, E., Albaladejo-Blazquez, N. et al. Psychometric Properties of the Spanish Version of the Homophobic Content Agent Target Scale Among Adolescent Students. Arch Sex Behav 49, 1683–1691 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01511-1

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