The Examination of the Cross-Cultultural Sensitivity of the Symptom Checklist-90-R Among People of African Descent

Joseph, Wilnise (2002) The Examination of the Cross-Cultultural Sensitivity of the Symptom Checklist-90-R Among People of African Descent. Master's Thesis, Department of Psychology, Central Connecticut State University.

Abstract

Issues in psychological testing of minorities have become problematic over the past couple of years. With the population growth of minorities, there continues to be the need for cultural sensitivity in mental health services. Few studies have investigated the relevance of ethnic diversity in the assessment and understanding of specific psychological problems among distinct ethnic groups. Similarly, little attention has been paid to issues regarding validity, the use of normative samples, and the interpretation problems of psychological tests. Most of the psychological research uses data from a White population to set the normative standards of psychological symptoms that are commonly known to practitioners. Many people have argued that specific problems exist in psychological testing among minority groups because the tests are not valid across different ethnic groups, so the White norms may not be valid. The difficulties of obtaining accurate results are in the collection of data across these ethnic and cultural groups. Moreover, Blacks living in the United States are usually categorized by race and seen as a homogenous group. The Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R; Derogatis, 1974) is a widely used test in measuring psychiatric symptomatology. However, despite its widespread use in minority populations, very little attention has been paid in examining psychometric properties in minority groups. The purpose of the present study is threefold. First, to compare the scores of the normative samples of the Symptom Checklist-90-R (Derogatis, 1974) to a group of people of African descent. Second, to examine the psychometric properties of the SCL-90-R as a self-report measure for detecting psychological symptoms in people of African descent. Third, to compare differences on the SCL-90-R among the different groups of people of African descent (e.g., Continental Africans, African-Americans, African-Caribbeans, and other people of African descent). One hundred ninety-four people of African descent age 18 years and older were recruited and administered the Symptom Checklist-90-R (Derogatis, 1994). The mean age for the sample was 31 years (SD = 10.98). The results revealed that the scores of the African groups were significantly higher than the nonpatient normative group on all of the dimensions of the Symptom Checklist. However, the inpatient psychiatric normative group obtained significantly higher scores than the African group. When compared with the other sample groups, Continental Africans had significantly higher scores. When the groups were put into the five categories, the Urban African, Rural African, and the African-Caribbean differed significantly from African-Americans. However, the Continental Africans were not different from the African-Caribbean group. It appears that overall Continental Africans obtained the highest scores on all of the dimensions. These findings suggest that there are distinct ethnic and cultural influences that play a role in the expressions of symptomatology. The results from this study offer a broad picture of the importance of cultural competence in the mental health field. Implications of these findings are discussed. The development of new normative data that includes greater numbers of different ethnic groups needs to be considered for further research. Further, normative data for each of the African groups that include normal healthy control, psychiatric inpatients, and psychiatric outpatients should be developed.