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Social Identity Threat Concerns (SITC) Inventory

Last Updated: Jan. 31, 2025 1

Instructions for Researchers

The Social Identity Threat Concerns (SITC) Inventory is an adaptable tool designed to measure a wide

range of social identity threat concerns. The SITC Inventory template, printed on pages 2 and 3, has

placeholders for social identity and context. These placeholders should be tailored to fit your specific

research needs. Pages 4 through 6 provide examples of the SITC Inventory tailored for various identity- by-context situations, such as gender-related threats in engineering classes, race/ethnicity-related threats

in the workplace, and sexuality-related threats in religious/spiritual settings.

Recommendations

• Customize each item by specifying a focal social identity (or identities)—e.g., race/ethnicity,

gender, sexuality—and context—e.g., school, work, home.

• Ensure that the identity-by-context situation is clearly articulated in each item to keep it salient

for participants.

• Present each item in a randomized order. Traditionally, items have been presented one-by-one.

Suggested citation:

Kroeper, K. M., Hernandez-Colmenares, A., Green, D. J., Williams, H. E., Kuzdal, A., Ospina, J.,

Moore, C. A., Agarwal, Heckler, A., G., Crocker, J., Fujita, K., Murphy, M. C., & Spencer,

S. J. (manuscript in preparation). How do you measure a threat in the air?

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SITC Inventory Template

Last Updated: Jan. 31, 2025 2

Instructions for Participants

The following statements concern your [social identity; e.g., sexuality, race, gender, religious identity]

and various thoughts you might (or might not) have [in/at/on context; e.g., at your office, on your

university’s campus, in your math class] because of that identity. Using the scale provided, please

indicate how “true” each of the following statements are to you (from 1 “not at all true of me” to 9

“extremely true of me”). Remember, there are no right or wrong answers. We simply want to know how

you feel [in/at/on context].

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Not at

all true

of me

Moderately

true of me

Extremely

true of me

1. Sometimes, I’m not sure that people think I belong (or “fit in”) [in/at/on context] because of my

[social identity]. [Belonging Uncertainty]

2. [In/At/On context], I sometimes wonder whether people have less respect for me because of my

[social identity]. [Respect Concerns]

3. Sometimes, I’m not sure that others [in/at/on context] value my opinions or contributions because

of my [social identity]. [Value Concerns]

4. [In/At/On context], I sometimes wonder whether I am being left out or marginalized because of

my [social identity]. [Marginalization Concerns]

5. Sometimes, I wonder whether I am being stereotyped because of my [social identity] [in/at/on

context]. [Stereotype Threat]

6. Sometimes, I am concerned that someone [in/at/on context] might physically hurt me because of

my [social identity]. [Physical Safety Concerns]

7. Sometimes, I am concerned that someone [in/at/on context] might taunt or harass me because of

my [social identity]. [Taunting / Harassment Concerns]

8. Because of my [social identity], I sometimes wonder whether others [in/at/on context] will give

me a fair shot. [Fairness Concerns]

9. Because of my [social identity], I sometimes wonder whether I can trust others [in/at/on context]

to have my back and support me. [Trust Concerns]

10. Sometimes, I wonder whether people [in/at/on context] only keep me around to be the “token”

member of my [social identity] group. [Tokenism Concerns]

11. Because of my [social identity], I sometimes wonder whether people [in/at/on context] see me as

a “true” [ingroup member; e.g., team member, American, engineering student, believer].

[Identity Denial Concerns]

12. [In/At/On context], I am sometimes concerned that someone will single me out (or shine a

spotlight on me) because of my [social identity]. [Spotlighting Concerns]

13. Sometimes, I wonder if people [in/at/on context] overlook (or forget about me) because of my

[social identity]. [Invisibility Concerns]

14. Sometimes, I wonder whether others [in/at/on context] think I get “special advantages” or “unfair

privileges” because of my [social identity]. [Privilege Concerns]

15. [In/At/On context], I sometimes wonder whether I’ll feel pressured to downplay my connection

to my own [social identity] group and, instead, be expected to fit in with another [social identity]

group. [Assimilation Pressure]

16. [In/At/On context], I am not sure that events and activities will be equally accessible to people

who share my [social identity] background. [Accessibility Concerns]

17. Sometimes, I’m not sure I am being true to my [social identity] identity while I’m [in/at/on

context]. [Authenticity Threat]

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SITC Inventory Template

Last Updated: Jan. 31, 2025 3

18. I sometimes wonder whether I should reveal my [social identity] to others [in/at/on context].

[Disclosure Concerns]

19. [In/At/On context], I am sometimes concerned that someone will reveal my [social identity] to

others without my permission. [Exposure Concerns]

20. Sometimes, I am not sure if I should try to “pass” as a member of another [social identity] group

(in order to blend in with everyone else [in/at/on context]). [Passing Concerns]

21. [In/At/On context], I sometimes wonder whether people might dismiss my [social identity] as

“unreal” or “fake.” [Identity Erasure Concerns]

22. [In/At/On context], I am sometimes concerned that others might incorrectly identify my [social

identity]—assuming I belong to a(n) [social identity] group that I don’t actually belong to.

[Misclassification Concerns]

23. [In/At/On context], I am sometimes concerned that others will become preoccupied with

“correctly” identifying my [social identity]. [Categorization Concerns]

Note. All scale items covary, with average inter-item correlations ranging from .39 to .83 (averaging .64) and

showing strong internal consistency reliability (α ≥ .91). However, items 1-16 tend to covary more strongly, likely

because they apply more to visible social identities, while items 17-23 tend to covary more strongly, likely because

they apply more to concealable social identities. When treated as two distinct factors, these factors strongly

correlate. Additionally, single-factor solutions with these residual covariances modeled fit the data better than two- factor solutions. Therefore, we have treated the scale as assessing a unidimensional construct.