Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-16-2026
Journal / Book Title
Psychology & Sexuality
Abstract
Sexual orientation concealment is a prevalent minority stressor among LGBTQ+ people (including nonbinary people) and it is associated with a series of adverse mental health outcomes. The Sexual Orientation Concealment Scale (SOCS) is a widely used brief measure assessing sexual orientation concealment. Although the SOCS has been used with diverse cisgender populations, its validity for nonbinary people, including those of varied racial/ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations, remains unknown. Based on data from an international sample of 340 nonbinary LGBTQ+ individuals, the present study reports the findings of a confirmatory factor analysis to assess the one-factor structure and validity of the SOCS, as well as measurement invariance by racial/ethnic identity (i.e. white and Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour [BIPOC]) and sexual orientation (i.e. monosexual, bi+, and queer). The model fit the data well for the one-factor solution, and we observed partial scalar invariance by racial/ethnic identity and sexual orientation. These findings indicate that the SOCS is valid for use with nonbinary people and provide preliminary support for its use across racial/ethnic and sexual orientation groups. We outline implications for future investigation to increase the cohesion of this body of work, and for clinical practice with nonbinary people.
DOI
10.1080/19419899.2026.2734898
MSU Digital Commons Citation
Goldie, Peter D.; Bixter, Michael T.; and McLaren, Suzanne, "Confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance of the sexual orientation concealment scale among nonbinary LGBTQ+ adults" (2026). Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 727.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/psychology-facpubs/727
Rights
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Published Citation
Goldie, P. D., Bixter, M. T., & McLaren, S. (2026). Confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance of the sexual orientation concealment scale among nonbinary LGBTQ+ adults. Psychology & Sexuality, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2026.2734898