Queering Critical Consciousness: Measurement and Implications of Critical Consciousness Among Sexual and Gender Minority Youth

Developmental research on critical consciousness (CC) offers insight into processes that empower youth to challenge oppressive realities. This concept has been examined predominantly among low income Black and Latinx youth. We consider how CC is relevant to sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth from different racial/ethnic backgrounds with the goal of expanding CC research. Leveraging data from 823 youth in Massachusetts, we conducted factor analytic and measurement invariance analyses across three groups of interest: straight Black and Latinx youth (N=254); SGM Black and Latinx youth (N=111); and SGM white youth (N=458) to explore measurement of CC among youth who face marginalization along the axis of race, sexuality or gender identity, and along both axes. We identified separate factors of critical reflection and political efficacy in all three groups and established configural and partial metric invariance across groups. We did not establish scalar or residual invariance. We explored correlations between CC and outcomes of grades and depression for each group, replicating the association between political efficacy and better mental health and grades across groups. Critical reflection was associated with better grades only for white SGM youth, while critical action was associated with better grades for SGM and non-SGM Black and Latinx youth. Implications for the measurement and generalizable application of CC with an intersectional lens are discussed.