NaDiRa short study: Minorities in the stress test

Validation of two scales to measure stress due to ethnic minority status as well as socio-economic status

National Monitoring of Discrimination and Racism (NaDiRa)

Project head: Dr. Laura Scholaske

Running time October 2020 until December 2020
Status Completed project

Project team:

  • Laura Scholaske
  • Nida Sari

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Project description:

In this project, scales will be developed to measure the occurrence of stressors and the resulting experience of stress experienced by people due to their ethnic minority status and socio-economic disadvantage. Of central importance is whether the scales developed are suitable and valid for this project from the point of view of experts. This will be tested in a survey with the target group.

Results:

For the evaluation of the developed scales, experts from clinical psychology, social psychology and health sciences were consulted. The experts rated the scales as suitable overall to measure the underlying constructs. Based on the feedback, redundant items were removed and remaining items were improved. When adapting the items, it was particularly relevant to formulate them more clearly. 

Surprising insights:

The fact that the developed scales were assessed by experts from relevant disciplines before being used in the target groups turned out to be a suitable method to improve them in terms of content and concept.  

Short studies in preparation of the Racism Monitor:

In order to prepare a comprehensive racism monitor, DeZIM called on scholars* from the DeZIM research community in 2020 to develop innovative study ideas. These should extend existing research projects, pursue new and innovative approaches or build an infrastructure to research racism. By 2021, more than 120 researchers at the six locations of the DeZIM research community had conducted a total of 34 short studies. These are divided into six thematic priorities:

  • Health system
  • Education system and labour market
  • Institutional racism
  • Dealing with experiences of racism
  • Participation and the media
  • Racist ideologies and attitudes

Funding: Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (Third-party funding)