Brief Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire-Community Version (Brief PEDQ-CV)

Abstract

The Brief Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire-Community Version (Brief PEDQ-CV) is a widely utilized psychometric instrument designed to measure the frequency of perceived discriminatory experiences based on an individual’s ethnicity or race. Developed as a condensed version of the original Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire (PEDQ), the Brief PEDQ-CV focuses specifically on lifetime exposure to various forms of unfair treatment within community settings, school, and work environments. It is structured to assess several distinct dimensions of discrimination, making it a valuable tool for researchers investigating the psychosocial and health consequences associated with chronic exposure to prejudice.

The scale requires respondents to identify their specific ethnic or racial group and then rate how often specific discriminatory events have occurred throughout their lives. Its development was documented in 2005 by Brondolo and colleagues, establishing its preliminary reliability and validity for use across diverse community populations.

Keywords

Ethnic Discrimination, Perceived Discrimination, Race, Prejudice, Social Psychology, Community Assessment, Psychometrics, Stressors, Minority Health.

Authors

Elizabeth Brondolo, Kim P. Kelly, Vonetta Coakley, Tamar Gordon, Shola Thompson, Erika Levy, Andrea Cassells, Jonathan N. Tobin, Monica Sweeney, Richard J. Contrada.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Brief PEDQ-CV is to provide a brief, reliable, and valid measure for quantifying an individual’s perceived lifetime exposure to ethnic and racial discrimination. It is specifically tailored for use in community samples, allowing researchers and clinicians to assess a critical social stressor that may impact mental and physical health outcomes.

The instrument is designed to capture the breadth of discriminatory experiences, ranging from subtle acts of exclusion and devaluation to overt acts of threat and aggression, all attributed by the respondent to their ethnic or racial identity. This comprehensive approach ensures that the assessment moves beyond single-item measures to capture the complex, multifaceted nature of perceived prejudice.

Construct

The Brief PEDQ-CV measures the construct of perceived ethnic discrimination, defined as the subjective experience of unfair treatment or negative actions directed towards an individual because of their membership in a specific ethnic or racial group. This construct is understood not merely as objective events, but as the subjective appraisal of these events, which is critical for predicting psychological distress and physiological responses.

The scale operationalizes this construct through several distinct sub-domains, reflecting the varying ways discrimination manifests in daily life. These domains include institutional unfairness (e.g., in school or work), interpersonal rejection, and exposure to physical threat or property damage.

Validity

Preliminary validation efforts, as described in the foundational 2005 publication, established the construct validity of the PEDQ-CV (from which the brief version is derived) by demonstrating that its factor structure aligns theoretically with known types of discriminatory experiences. The scale’s ability to differentiate between individuals based on their self-reported exposure to discrimination provides evidence of its discriminant validity.

Furthermore, the instrument has been utilized successfully in studies linking chronic perceived discrimination to negative health outcomes, supporting its criterion validity as a measure of a psychosocial stressor relevant to public health research.

Reliability

The internal consistency reliability of the various versions (Full, Community, Student) of the PEDQ, including the Brief PEDQ-CV, has been demonstrated through Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. The source data indicates acceptable to strong reliability for the overall scale and its sub-factors.

• Lifetime Exposure (Overall Scale): Alpha values consistently ranged from .87 to .88 across different versions (Full, Community, Student), indicating high internal consistency for the total score.

• Sub-Factor Reliability: Factor alphas generally ranged from .65 to .88, demonstrating adequate internal consistency for the individual dimensions measured by the scale. Factors such as Threat/aggression showed strong reliability (e.g., .80, .75, .88), while Discrimination at work/school showed slightly lower, though acceptable, values (e.g., .69, .71, .65).

Factor Analysis

The structure of the PEDQ-CV and its brief version is supported by factor analysis, which reveals distinct dimensions of perceived discrimination. While the specific factor loadings for the Brief PEDQ-CV are not fully provided in the source excerpt, the reliability data suggests the presence of five primary factors across the scale versions, which organize the 17 items into meaningful categories of discriminatory experience:

1. Lifetime Exposure: The overall measurement of all discriminatory events.

2. Exclusion/Rejection: Items related to being ignored, shut out, or made to feel like an outsider.

3. Stigmatization/Devaluation: Experiences involving negative stereotypes, such as being hinted at as dishonest, unclean, or lazy.

4. Discrimination at Work/School: Unfair treatment specifically occurring within educational or professional settings by staff or peers.

5. Threat/Aggression: Overt acts of hostility, including threats of harm, physical injury, or property damage.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire, Psychosocial stressor assessment.

Format: 17-item questionnaire utilizing a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = Never happened, 3 = Sometimes, 5 = Happened very often).

Language Available: English (Original). Other translations may exist but are not specified in the source.

Population Group: Community populations, including adults and students from various ethnic and racial minority groups.

Age Group: Adolescents and Adults (implied by the inclusion of school/work items and student/community versions).

Population Details: Originally validated in diverse community samples, including those focused on Latino families and youth.

Test Methodology: Respondents are asked to reflect on their primary ethnic/racial identity and report the frequency of specific negative events that occurred to them because of that identity.

Keywords

Perceived Discrimination, PEDQ-CV, Psychological Scale, Ethnic Discrimination, Social Stress, Psychometrics, Racial Bias, Health Disparities.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source content.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source content.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 2005 (Year of primary validation publication).

Permissions and Fees: Information regarding current usage fees or licensing is not available in the source material. Researchers should contact the primary author (Elizabeth Brondolo) for permission details.

The instrument is included in a publicly accessible compendium. The original PDF containing the instrument (pages 142-145 of Latino Families and Youth: A Compendium of Assessment Tools) can be accessed via the following link: http://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=23171&Itemid

Reference’s

Brondolo, E., Kelly, K. P., Coakley, V., Gordon, T., Thompson, S., Levy, E., Cassells, A., Tobin, J. N., Sweeney, M., & Contrada, R. J. (2005). The Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire: Development and preliminary validation of a community version. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 35(2), 335-365.

Items of the Brief Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire-Community Version (Brief PEDQ-CV)

Think about your ethnicity/race. What group do you belong to? Do you think of yourself as: Asian? Black? Latino? White? Native American? American? Caribbean? Irish? Italian? Korean? Another group?

Your Ethnicity/Race: ____________________________________

How often have any of the things listed below ever happened to you, because of your ethnicity?

BECAUSE OF YOUR ETHNICITY/RACE…

A. How often . . .

1. Have you been treated unfairly by teachers, principals, or other staff at school?

2. Have others thought you couldn’t do things or handle a job?

3. Have others threatened to hurt you (ex: said they would hit you)?

4. Have others actually hurt you or tried to hurt you (ex: kicked or hit you)?

5. Have policeman or security officers been unfair to you?

6. Have others threatened to damage your property?

7. Have others actually damaged your property?

8. Have others made you feel like an outsider who doesn’t fit in because of your dress, speech, or other characteristics related to your ethnicity?

9. Have you been treated unfairly by co-workers or classmates?

10. Have others hinted that you are dishonest or can’t be trusted?

11. Have people been nice to your face, but said bad things about you behind your back?

12. Have people who speak a different language made you feel like an outsider?

13. Have others ignored you or not paid attention to you?

14. Has your boss or supervisor been unfair to you?

15. Have others hinted that you must not be clean

16. Have people not trusted you?

17. Has it been hinted that you must be lazy?

If you would like to tell us more about your experiences of discrimination, please write your story here:

…

Response Scale: 1 = Never happened, 3 = Sometimes, 5 = Happened very often.