A Differential Item Functional Analysis by Age of Perceived Interpersonal Discrimination in a Multi-racial/ethnic Sample of Adults

We investigated whether individual items on the nine item William's Perceived Everyday Discrimination Scale (EDS) functioned differently by age (<45 vs ≥ 45) within five racial groups in the United States: Asians (n=2,017); Hispanics (n=2,688); Black Caribbeans (n=1,377); African Americans (n=3,434); and Whites (n=854). We used data from the 2001-2003 National Survey of American Lives and the 2001-2003 National Latino and Asian Studies. Multiple-indicator, multiple-cause models (MIMIC) were used to examine differential item functioning (DIF) on the EDS by age within each racial/ethnic group. Overall, Asian and Hispanic respondents reported less discrimination than Whites; on the other hand, African Americans and Black Caribbeans reported more discrimination than Whites. Regardless of race/ethnicity, the younger respondents (aged <45 years) reported less discrimination than the older respondents (aged ≥ 45 years). In terms of age by race/ethnicity, the results were mixed for 19 out of 45 tests of DIF (40%). No differences in item function were observed among Black Caribbeans. "Being called names or insulted" and others acting as "if they are afraid" of the respondents were the only two items that did not exhibit differential item functioning by age across all racial/ethnic groups. Overall, our findings suggest that the EDS scale should be used with caution in multi-age multi-racial/ethnic samples.