Semester of Graduation

Summer 2025

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

With suicide posing a significant health risk, it is essential to accurately identify risk for future suicidal behaviors. The Brief Suicide Cognitions Scale (B-SCS) assess suicide-specific cognitions which comprise the suicidal belief system. The B-SCS has demonstrated a unidimensional factor structure, and good validity and reliability; however, the degree to which the B-SCS generalizes to diverse subgroups has not been evaluated. The purpose of this study is two-fold; first, to evaluate the replicability of the psychometric validity, reliability, and the unidimensional factor structure within this population. Second, to evaluate the degree to which the B-SCS is measurement invariant among different groups of people. Eligible participants (N=2000) recruited from the LSU SONA system between 2022 and 2023 were asked to complete a series of self-report measures asking about suicide-related constructs. The B-SCS was evaluated for concurrent validity, content validity, and internal consistency. CFAs were conducted to evaluate best-fit of model factor structure. Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analyses (MGCFA) were conducted comparing participants by race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality. Analyses were conducted utilizing WLSMV estimators. Select subgroups had missing item-level responses; for select groups, MI analyses conducted utilized WLSMV estimators for collapsed data, and ML estimators of non-collapsed data for model comparison. Configural, metric and scalar invariance were tested within all these groups. Model fit was evaluated based on Hu and Bentler’s (1999) guidelines. Results support strong internal consistency and good concurrent validity when compared to scales measuring similar constructs. Additionally, the B-SCS was able to discriminate between participants who had a history of suicide attempts and those who did not. CFA results support a unidimensional factor structure of the B-SCS. MGCFA analyses indicated that the B-SCS yields all levels of measurement invariance across White and Black, Hispanic and non-Hispanic, cisgender man and cisgender woman, and Heterosexual compared to Non-Heterosexual individuals. MGCFA results comparing Asian American and White participants were mixed. These results indicate that the B-SCS is a psychometrically valid and reliable tool to be used in assessing suicide risk. Moreover, results from measurement invariance analyses indicate that this tool may be viable to use within the sub-populations examined within this study.

Date

5-23-2025

Committee Chair

Hill, Ryan M.

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