Using the SCL-90 to assess distress in African Americans and Caucasian Americans

This study is the first to evaluate the appropriateness of the use of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) with African American college students. Two types of racial group differences on the SCL-90-R subscales are evaluated: (a) differences in symptom report for reasons unrelated to the severity of the subscale pathology and (b) differences in how the symptom is related to the subscale pathology. The sample consists of 70 African American and 66 Caucasian American students. On five items distributed across three subscales, there are group differences in how the symptom is related to the severity of the subscale, suggesting that the constructs of subscale pathology differ across groups. On one item, symptom severity differs across groups, for reasons unrelated to the severity of the specific subscale and, therefore, resulting in test bias. Findings support the use of the SCL-90-R with African American college students.