Psychometric properties of the Oppression-Based Traumatic Stress Inventory and measurement equivalence across PTSD treatment and diverse undergraduate samples

Samantha C Holmes; Lesa Hoffman; Darien Himi; Sandra V Pica; Amber Calloway; Katherine A Dondanville; Sohayla Elhusseini; Brittany Clark-Hall; Shannon Wiltsey Stirman; Monnica T Williams

doi:10.1037/tra0002102

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Psychometric properties of the Oppression-Based Traumatic Stress Inventory and measurement equivalence across PTSD treatment and diverse undergraduate samples

Journal article

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Psychometric properties of the Oppression-Based Traumatic Stress Inventory and measurement equivalence across PTSD treatment and diverse undergraduate samples

Samantha C Holmes, Lesa Hoffman, Darien Himi, Sandra V Pica, Amber Calloway, Katherine A Dondanville, Sohayla Elhusseini, Brittany Clark-Hall, Shannon Wiltsey Stirman and Monnica T Williams

Psychological trauma

01/22/2026

DOI: 10.1037/tra0002102

PMCID: PMC12851508

PMID: 41569537

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Abstract

Research demonstrates that oppression can produce symptoms consistent with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but traditional trauma assessments do not account for the impacts of oppression. This study addressed this gap by establishing the dimensionality, measurement equivalence, reliability, and convergent validity of the Oppression-Based Traumatic Stress Inventory across two samples. The samples comprise PTSD treatment study clients (Sample 1; = 129) and Hispanic-serving institution undergraduate students (Sample 2; = 227) who completed a series of questionnaires, including the Oppression-Based Traumatic Stress Inventory. Confirmatory item factor analyses for the 25 ordinal Oppression-Based Traumatic Stress Inventory items were conducted for each sample. Model fit was unsatisfactory for two initial four-factor solutions: one based on the fifth edition, PTSD symptom clusters and another based on exploratory factor analyses on a previous sample. Given the very high correlations among the factors, however, we refined the structure into three new factors ( ) that yielded acceptable fit after adding four error covariances. Measurement invariance testing revealed three of the 25 items had parameters that differed across samples. Excellent reliability was found for all three factors. A higher order factor appeared plausible but was largely noninvariant across samples. Finally, we provide evidence for convergent validity (with measures of standard PTSD, posttraumatic cognitions, depressive symptoms, psychosocial functioning, racial discrimination, gender discrimination, and, to some degree, material hardship). Our findings strengthen the psychometric evidence supporting this novel measure of oppression-based traumatic stress, an important step in furthering intersectional research on this topic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

oppression-based traumatic stress

psychometric properties

measurement invariance

Details

Title: Subtitle: Psychometric properties of the Oppression-Based Traumatic Stress Inventory and measurement equivalence across PTSD treatment and diverse undergraduate samples
Creators: Samantha C Holmes - College of Staten Island
Lesa Hoffman - University of Iowa
Darien Himi - College of Staten Island
Sandra V Pica - City University of New York
Amber Calloway - University of Pennsylvania
Katherine A Dondanville - The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center
Sohayla Elhusseini - Stanford University
Brittany Clark-Hall - The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center
Shannon Wiltsey Stirman - Stanford University
Monnica T Williams - University of Ottawa
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Psychological trauma
DOI: 10.1037/tra0002102
PMID: 41569537
PMCID: PMC12851508
NLM abbreviation: Psychol Trauma
ISSN: 1942-9681
eISSN: 1942-969X
Publisher: American Psychological Association
Grant note: Canadian Institutes of Health Research; Canada Research Chairs Program NIH HHS
Language: English
Electronic publication date: 01/22/2026
Academic Unit: Psychological and Quantitative Foundations
Record Identifier: 9985130237902771

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