Validation of the Social Emotional Distress Survey–Brief in Adolescents with Intersecting Sexual and Gender Identities

The Social Emotional Distress Survey-Secondary Brief (SEDS-Brief) is a five-item self-report scale widely used in school-based mental health screening to assess adolescents' internalizing distress. Little empirical evidence exists regarding its application among sexually and gender diverse (SGD) students. Using a sample of 460,542 U.S. adolescents (3.6% Native American, 21.2% Asian, 7.9% Black, 38.4% Hispanic, 2.7% Pacific Islander, 7.8% Others, 18.4% White, 47.2% Female, 52.3% Male), this study evaluated the psychometric properties of the SEDS-Brief across 17 SGD groups with intersecting sexual and gender identities. Results supported a unidimensional factor structure, strong internal consistency, and high validity across all groups. Measurement invariance testing indicated support for configural, partial metric, and partial scalar invariance. Item response theory analyses revealed that some items exhibited distinctive item difficulty and discrimination patterns across groups. Findings provide comprehensive psychometric evidence supporting the use of the SEDS-Brief among SGD adolescents and highlight directions to enhance its ability to capturing emotional distress.